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Our culture is at a crossroad about the value of human life, argues author and human rights activist Wesley J. Smith in an interview with Kevin Allen on the “Illumined Heart” podcast (Ancient Faith Radio). Do we value human life simply because it is human, or do we value it based on notions and definitions of “personhood” including such characteristics as sentience, awareness, stages of biological development and others factors? The former allows for a universal definition of human rights. The latter reduces human beings to “subjects” that are bound to shifting and often capricious standards that determine who lives and who dies.
Listen here:
widget here (43:38)
It’s a heated battle (one that even spills over into the comments of this blog on occasion). Often, the the level of vituperation in the attacks against religious defenders of human life arise because the utilitarians understand their view allows for no coherent defense of any human rights, Smith says. “They try to avoid thy weight of their own ideas by diverting [the argument] into, ‘Well, it’s just a matter of religion.'” Yet, “They are the ones obsessed with religion…” Continue reading