To be Christian is to be pro-life. To be Jewish
is to be pro-life. To be faithful to the fundamental biblical truth we must
stand up for the sanctity of life. We must clearly, forthrightly, and – when
necessary – publicly stand up in defense of life from the moment of conception
to natural death. We cannot treat the rejection of elective abortion or
euthanasia as a personal opinion. To be pro-life is part and parcel of our
stance in this world. We must be witnesses for life
To stand up
for life is to stand up for the truth about the human person. It is easy to
treat others well when we can identify with them. A white author darkened his
skin and lived for a time in the segregated South. His subsequent book,
Black Like Me, shocked his white readers. But, of
course, black people had been telling the same story for years. A lovely young
reporter sprays gray in her hair and disguises herself as an old woman. Her
readers are dismayed at the disdain and disrespect so many shopkeepers, public
servants, and ordinary people mete out to her. But elderly people have known
this all along. When someone “like us” – someone white or young – suffer these
indignities we are outraged. Then we can identify with the victim. But from the
Bible, we know that every person is made in God’s image and likeness. Therefore
we must identify with every person.
We know that
we are all more than matter, than the chemicals that makeup our bodies. We are
more than what appears to the eye. No person can be reduced to his physical or
mental qualities. The good life is more than having things and enjoying
pleasures. Each human being is a creature that God has wanted for its own sake.
This means that the unborn baby – like you and me and the old man on his
deathbed – is wanted by God for her
own sake. Our attitude towards that infant, even in her fetal stage, must be
one of sincere giving of self. If it is not, then not only do we deny the
child’s humanity; we deny our own.
We must
witness to life. Our society is increasingly selfish and fragmented. In this
country (and in Western Europe, too) our standard is to live for self. But we
are called to live for each other. We are called to witness to the dignity of
every human being. This is different from demonstrating and agitating for
pro-life legislation (although these things are certainly good). Witnessing to
life means, above all, care for our neighbors – especially the weakest among
them. Pregnant mothers should find their best friends and most reliable support
among us. Yes, we support the decision not to abort – but we offer our help as
well. When others see the unexpected pregnancy as a burden – even if the mother
is herself a child – we see the glory of God’s creative love. By our love and
care we must witness to the dignity of every human being by witnessing to the
incomparable dignity of even the unborn child.
“Witnessing”
means telling others what you have seen and experienced. It means letting them
know what you know. We have to be ‘up front’ about where we stand. Now this can
be tricky. At work or school or in the neighborhood we can’t preach at our
neighbors. But preaching isn’t our job anyway. Our job is to witness – to
witness to life. You don’t have to preach. But you won’t laugh at racial or
ethnic jokes. You treat older people with respect. You don’t tolerate gossip,
even about the ‘annoying’ people in the shop. Then when the subject comes up –
of course you believe in the unborn infant’s right to life. This is part and
parcel of your respect for every human being. You act as though you really believe that every human being is
an image of God.
By witnessing
to life, you probably won’t change the tone of newspaper editorials or the
network reporting. But as an honest, forthright witness to life you will touch
your neighbors, win their trust, and get them to thinking about what is good.
Adrian J. Reimers