Political Action’s Opportunities and Dangers: Some Lessons from Bayard Rustin

Social movements learn from one another: strategies and tactics that work on behalf of one cause may also work for another. Learning from other activists requires discernment, though: times and circumstances differ, so what worked for one movement at one historical point may require adaptation and selectivity to be effective for a different movement. The … Continue reading Political Action’s Opportunities and Dangers: Some Lessons from Bayard Rustin →

Human Rights and the Right to Life: Reconsidering Conventional Human Rights Activism

Respecting people’s human rights should go hand in hand with upholding the consistent life ethic. The concept of “human rights” broadly means those conditions that people can legitimately claim as necessary to living a decent human life. Life itself is one of these conditions, and many human rights documents recognize a right to life. The Universal … Continue reading Human Rights and the Right to Life: Reconsidering Conventional Human Rights Activism →

The Wages of War, Part 2: How Forced Sterilization Came to Japan

World War II’s devastation of Japan, and the politics of the post-war American occupation, led to the Japanese Diet [parliament] passing the Eugenic Protection Law 70 years ago, in 1948. The law legalized abortion in Japan, with millions of Japanese children being killed in the womb over subsequent decades.[1] The law also legalized a non-lethal but still … Continue reading The Wages of War, Part 2: How Forced Sterilization Came to Japan →

How to Move from Theory to Practice: Reading A Consistent Life

Let’s say you’ve succeeded in winning someone over to the consistent life ethic. This person now wants to defend human life against abortion, the death penalty, euthanasia, war, and the myriad other threats to life. Now the question arises, “What should I do to promote the consistent life ethic?” A valuable new resource is now available for … Continue reading How to Move from Theory to Practice: Reading A Consistent Life →

The Wages of War: How Abortion Came to Japan

“I hate Japs. I’m telling you men that if I met a pregnant Japanese woman, I’d kick her in the belly.” — Remark attributed to Admiral William Halsey, commander of US naval forces in the South Pacific during the Second World War[1] “Tsubachan, I’m sorry I couldn’t give birth to you. I would have loved … Continue reading The Wages of War: How Abortion Came to Japan →

Extermination by Hunger: Red Famine’s Story of Lethal Injustice

Joseph Stalin took a fateful trip to Siberia in January, 1928. Stalin, soon to become the Soviet Union’s supreme leader, traveled to the country’s outskirts to identify the causes of poor agricultural production and food shortages. He concluded that Soviet farming was too small-scale: most peasants tended small farms that were not economically efficient, while … Continue reading Extermination by Hunger: Red Famine’s Story of Lethal Injustice →

Seeking Peaceful Coexistence: The Varied Ways of Supporting a Consistent Life Ethic

That consistent ethic of life advocates are at odds with more conventional American political categories—conservative, liberal, libertarian—is well recognized. Less often recognized are the ways different consistent life ethic advocates diverge from each other and the tensions this can cause. People can understand the consistent life ethic in different ways and have different reasons for … Continue reading Seeking Peaceful Coexistence: The Varied Ways of Supporting a Consistent Life Ethic →

Pro-Peace from Left and Right

These remarks were given by John Whitehead at the Pro-life March to Abolish Nuclear weapons, held in Washington, DC, on September 9, 2017. The theme of this rally and march, opposition to nuclear weapons from a pro-life perspective, has been at the heart of the Consistent Life Network from the very beginning. We were originally an … Continue reading Pro-Peace from Left and Right →

Remembering Nat Hentoff (1925-2017)

Defenders of life lost one of their most eloquent, frustrating, and idiosyncratic voices earlier this year when Nat Hentoff died on January 7, at the age of 91. This Jewish, atheist, civil libertarian, pro-lifer’s critiques of abortion, the death penalty, euthanasia, poverty, racism, and war, provide much to inspire adherents of the consistent ethic of … Continue reading Remembering Nat Hentoff (1925-2017) →

Reflections on the Consistent Ethic of Life

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 →