Changing the Culture

CHANGING THE CULTURE Every day our society struggles with the "Culture of Death”. The evidence is clear that abortion kills a human being. Threats against life are taking on vast proportions and we now confront an objective conspiracy against life involving international organizations such as the UN that promote contraception, sterilization, and abortion. The mass media treats death by euthanasia like progress. We have a society in which incapacitated and terminally ill persons are helped not to live to the fullest, but only to die sooner, often with the consent of the family. So many citizens believe it's okay to kill living human embryos to harvest their stem cells for speculative research and that it's okay to force tax­payers to pay for it. The U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 legalized abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy for any reason. Since then over 49 million children in the United States have died from abortion. How did this happen? What brought us to this point in history? - The late Great Pope John Paul ll called these trends part of a culture of death. He traced that culture's roots to three attitudes in particular: 1. extreme personal autonomy, 2. seeing some lives as not worthy of living, and 3. avoidance of suffering at all costs. Our society has absorbed many attitudes hostile to life without even realizing it.

Personal autonomy or the “Free to be me” attitude has run wild. Many people think the question of what is morally right depends on their own preferences, that there is no objective moral yardstick such as the Ten Commandments. In the name of tolerance, it is said that people have a right to make up their own personal morality. After all, who has the right to “impose” his values on others? If blind self-assertion can define the meaning of life, the lives of everyone – especially the weakest and most vulnerable – become tools for those who are the loudest.

Lives unworthy of living. So many people today do not understand or accept that the value of a human life is inherent. They feel it depends on whether a person is conscious, capable of exercising his autonomy and of performing actions which benefit society. Some so called ethicists have promoted infanticide for parents who do not want to raise a child with a disability. Ours is a culture which values efficiency and productivity, so the idea of eliminating the “unproductive” and “burdensome” sounds reasonable. This functional ethic may explain why many want to allow scientists to create human embryos solely to destroy them, to use their stem cells in research seeking treatments for diseases.

Avoiding suffering at all costs. Our culture’s desire to avoid suffering –including sacrifice, hardship, and even inconvenience – leads many to view death as a form of release. Many avoid the personal sacrifice involved in loving and caring for a family member who needs special assistance. Our “Unplanned” children are aborted to escape the disruptions and sacrifices entailed in raising a child. And when we can no longer enjoy life the way we once did, death may be seen as away to eliminate psychological suffering.

What is the answer? What do we do to change the culture? We must respect the lives of the weak and defenseless – unborn children, human embryos in laboratories, the disabled, the dying, and victims of violence for a just society to evolve. We must move away from this culture of death and toward following Christ to eternal life by way of the Cross: Loving others to the point that we put aside our personal pride and selfishness and our tendency to view others as obstacles or things to be used. Jesus said that one must learn to love God, and "love your neighbor as yourself." God has given us this model of love and solidarity with those entrusted to our care and those we meet on the way. If we live this model we may inspire others to do the same, and help create a culture in which human life is always loved and defended, every form of violence driven out.