I confess, you've won me over. I've seen the light. No longer will I worship the
Culture of Death. I promise you, now and forevermore, that I will follow your wishes. I will support your endeavors.
I hereby adopt the right to life as my cause, and will defend it against all foes.
I have just a few small provisos, though.
(More after the fold)
I will adopt your values wholeheartedly, worship in your churches with you, protest the same things you protest at the same barricades,
if and when you agree:
1) With the Catholic Bishops that the Death Penalty is immoral and must be forever eradicated from our Country. No one who supports a right to life can in good faith argue that Capital Punishment is acceptable in any system of morality either God or Man could conceive. Why should we employ the same ultimate punishment that our most fervent enemies in the world, the Iranian Mullahs and the godless dictator of North Korea, Kim Il Jong embrace, or that are accepted by the Communist regimes in China and Vietnam?
2) That all people, but especially all children, deserve the same access to Health Care that the wealthiest among us can obtain, regardless of race, color, creed, gender, sexual orientation or socio-economic status. Did not Jesus heal the sick and the lame? Did he not tell the lawyer who agreed that the Samaritan, who tended the dying man lying in the road, had acted as a neighbor and shown mercy to him, to "Go and do likewise." Should we do any less for those among us who suffer the privations of sickness, despair and even death because they lack the means to pay the healers among us? We have the highest rate of infant mortality in the developed world, yet we are the richest nation. Does not the right to life demand we take action to lower that rate?
3) That all people are entitled to receive Enough to Eat, Clothes to Wear and a Place to Sleep at night without fear of harm, regardless of their mental condition or drug addictions. Can we permit homeless and destitute men, women and children to roam our streets, scavenge for food and endure all manner of violence and brutality while we, the more fortunate sit secure in our homes, heedless and forgetful? Jesus said that when you do a service for the least of those in society, you are doing that service for him. If we support a right to life can we do less?
4) That All children, no matter how poor, are entitled to receive the same Quality Education, and the same opportunities that the wealthiest among us receive, and that they be entitled to go as far as their abilities will take them, not just as far as their pocketbook will allow. We cannot truly honor a life that is marred by schools that haven't enough teachers, enough schoolbooks, enough libraries and computers, enough school lunches and musical instruments, enough safety in their classrooms and hallways, enough support for their students' ambitions and dreams. Nor does a right to life have any meaning if only the wealthy among us can afford college while the poor are denied.
5) That all people, When They Retire, are entitled to receive enough benefits to live and thrive, to pay for their food, shelter and medicines, and to live on their own if they so choose and can take care of themselves, or to receive the assistance of adequate nursing care if they are unable to do so. A right to life must mean that we honor the oldest among us, and grant them a dignified and respectful place in our society, free from want and deprivation of any kind, able to survive and enjoy life as long as they are capable.
6) Finally, that at the end of their lives, we grant all people the Right to Decide for themselves, when they are dying or suffering from such illness or injury that science cannot ameliorate their pain and suffering even as it artificially extends their life beyond what their bodies would be capable of on their own, whether to continue the medical means to keep them alive. A right to life should never mean that we impose our own judgment on the decisions of others, or force them to endure a cruel and torturous existence just because we have the medical technology to keep their bodies functioning long past the time their lives would have ended naturally.
I'm sure, as a fellow supporter of the Right to Life, that you agree with me that each of these follow naturally and logically from our acceptance and belief that all people in this world are entitled to this right. Indeed, I hope you can think of some more examples that I may have missed.