Having worked for several years to advance the consistent ethic of life as an editor for Life Matters Journal and a member of the organization the Consistent Life Network, I wanted to offer some thoughts on this principle. How should supporters of the ethic understand it? What concerns should the ethic include—and not include? I acknowledge at … Continue reading Reflections on the Consistent Ethic of Life
Month: September 2020
Provide a Safe Haven: The Case for Admitting Syrian Refugees
The United States’ plans to admit 10,000 refugees from the Syrian civil war into the country has become the center of a major political controversy. The controversy began in the aftermath of the November 13 attacks in Paris by operatives of the Syria-based terrorist group ISIS that killed 130 people. The possibility that one of … Continue reading Provide a Safe Haven: The Case for Admitting Syrian Refugees
Distorted Ethics: A Review of The China Mirage
The United States imposed an oil embargo in mid-1941 on Japan, which was then engaged in the military conquest of China and parts of Southeast Asia. As the United States was Japan’s leading oil supplier, this embargo threatened the future of Japan’s expansion, and the Japanese ultimately compensated for the loss by embarking on a … Continue reading Distorted Ethics: A Review of The China Mirage
Children of War: More Reasons Social Conservatives Should Oppose a Hawkish Foreign Policy
Social conservatives often express concern for children’s need for a stable and traditional home life, with both biological parents involved in their upbringing. In particular, the harm done to children by absent fathers is a common worry among such conservatives. This commitment to children is threatened, however, by social conservatives’ tendency to ally themselves politically … Continue reading Children of War: More Reasons Social Conservatives Should Oppose a Hawkish Foreign Policy
Resolving the Ukraine Crisis: A Proposal
Relations between the United States and Russia have deteriorated dramatically this past winter and spring as the result of the unfolding civil strife in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich accepted and then rejected a trade agreement with the European Union, resulting in popular unrest that led to Yanukovich’s overthrow. Russia then initiated a military occupation … Continue reading Resolving the Ukraine Crisis: A Proposal
Why the Campaign against ISIS Must End: A Just War Analysis
The myriad atrocities committed by the organization known variously as the Islamic State, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have filled the news for over a year now. ISIS’ activities have prompted a military response by the United States, which has bombed ISIS forces … Continue reading Why the Campaign against ISIS Must End: A Just War Analysis
Five Great Anti-War Movies
Movies can be a valuable resource for consistent life ethic activists. A movie that touches on one of the life issues can engage someone’s imagination and emotions in a way that an essay, a news article, or even a novel cannot. Further, hosting a screening is a relatively easy way for students, religious communities, or … Continue reading Five Great Anti-War Movies
Renewing the Peace Movement
One part of promoting a consistent ethic of life that is very dear to my heart is the pursuit of peace, of finding ways for nations or other communities to resolve their conflicts nonviolently, without resort to the organized, large-scale killing that is war. In this piece, I will explain precisely how, as a Christian … Continue reading Renewing the Peace Movement
War on Marriage: Why Social Conservatives Should Oppose a Hawkish Foreign Policy
Americans who favor traditional marriage and family life—sometimes referred to as “social conservatives”—tend to be lumped together politically with those who favor hawkish foreign policies. In many cases, this categorization is no doubt accurate: many social conservatives do favor American military interventions. The association between concern for marriage and the family and a hawkish foreign … Continue reading War on Marriage: Why Social Conservatives Should Oppose a Hawkish Foreign Policy
A Globe-Trotting Detective Story: A Review of Dirty Wars
Dirty Wars, the documentary film counterpart to the book of the same name, begins its investigation of the secretive world of US counterterrorism operations with a disturbing episode set in Afghanistan. The book’s author, Jeremy Scahill, was working as a war correspondent in Afghanistan when he looked beyond the limited flow of information provided by … Continue reading A Globe-Trotting Detective Story: A Review of Dirty Wars
Peacemaking for Life 