#humanrights

Oct 30, 2015
3 min

Be a Hero, Save A Whale - Feed the Homeless, Go to Jail

The homeless lump on the bench. It’s filthy. You can’t see a face -- this thing is covered up against the evening, only its feet sticking out. Geez, not even shoes. You edge up the path, wondering if you pass by without being noticed, wondering if you’ll smell it anyway, wondering why can’t this loafer find a place to live? McDonald’s is always hiring, for God’s sake. So you do get a little close because you have to pass by and you were hoping to use that bench. Maybe the nex

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Oct 30, 2015
12 min

What's in it for the Born?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines “humanize” as 1) “to make more humane” and 2) “to give a human character to.” When we say, “Abortion-rights advocates often dehumanize the unborn,” we use a negative form of sense 2 to mean that they take human character away from the unborn. In this essay I will use “humanize” in both senses, but mainly in sense 1, “make more humane.” My generation of Americans can be credited with having made itself into something more humane and more h

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Oct 30, 2015
10 min

A Red State Ends the Death Penalty: How Conservatives in Nebraska Came to Reject Capital Punishment

On May 27, Nebraska became the first red state since North Dakota in the 1970s to repeal the death penalty. As the country has shifted away from the death penalty in the past decade, many interpreted this development as a progressive movement. Before Nebraska, a string of blue states – New York, New Jersey, New Mexico, Illinois, Connecticut, and Maryland – had repealed the death penalty. Nebraska challenged this dominant narrative, with Republicans leading efforts to end the

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May 11, 2014
4 min

Liberalism Without Its Soul

Purdue University hosted a joltingly eye-opening debate March 3 on the resolution “Is Abortion a Human Rights Injustice?” Arguing the affirmative was the young Seth Drayer of Created Equal, a pro-life organization that argues against abortion on human rights grounds. Purdue University’s Professor of Communications Ralph Webb, PhD, argued the negative. What made the event particularly jarring was Webb arguing not only that abortion doesn’t violate human rights, but that, in tr

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Feb 13, 2014
4 min

Pope Francis Talks Economics

The Argentinean pontiff has made it part of his papacy to speak out very vocally for the oppressed. He has spoken to the people about abortion, even taking it to the streets in the Italian March for Life. He has spoken about loving persons with homosexual inclinations, loving them no matter what their decisions may entail. He has spoken about seeking peace, because war does nothing but destroy human lives. This consistent theme of speaking of things in relation to the human p

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Feb 13, 2014
2 min

Hypocrisy on Human Life: Pro-lifers & The Death Penalty

Wendy Davis, a confirmed supporter of late-term abortion, has come in for severe criticism from Texas Republicans, who argue that late-term abortion presents a menace to women and the unborn. The measure, stipulating that doctors performing abortions have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, is being hotly debated by the Supreme Court. This measure calls into question Texas Republicans’ self-proclaimed benevolent humanism, which is unmistakably redolent of hypocrisy. T

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Feb 13, 2014
4 min

Does Fetal Pain Matter?

When Gabby Gingras was a baby, she nearly scratched out both of her eyes with her fingers. As a toddler she chewed her tongue, gnawed at her fingers until they bled, and snapped many teeth out of her gums by chewing too hard on her toys. Over the years, she has badly bumped, bruised and broken many parts of her body, including her jaw—which remained broken for weeks before a doctor noticed the injury. Gabby Gingras has a rare neurological condition called Congenital Insensiti

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Feb 13, 2014
4 min

Belgium's Child Euthanasia Laws

The Jahi McMath legal battle at Children’s Hospital Oakland over a brain-dead 13-year-old provides a stark contrast to a law passed across the Atlantic in Belgium that allows terminally ill minors to choose physician-assisted suicide. California judges have allowed the mother of young Ms. McMath to uphold her wish to keep her daughter on life support despite multiple pediatric neurologists declaring her dead. Meanwhile, the nation of Belgium presses forward its dismal euthana

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Sep 11, 2013
1 min

Human Trafficking Statistics

BY MARY STROKA Today we need to pray for our country, in remembrance of 9/11, and for Osama bin Laden, who orchestrated the devastating attacks 12 years ago. We need to continue to pray for Syria and the rest of the war-torn Middle East. We also need to pray for an end to human trafficking -- modern slavery. There are 20.9 million victims worldwide, according to the International Labour Organization. I realize the statistics are unreliable, varying from source to source, bu

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Feb 23, 2013
5 min

Human Rights: What Are They, and How Do We Know Them When We See Them?

BY ELIZABETH THOMSON An important thing worth remembering is that protecting life is not solely a religious or political issue -- it is a human rights issue. To have rights is to be human, and to be human is to have rights. That much is not disputed; however, how do we know what a human right is when we see one? Where do human rights come from? On 10 December 1948, a list of human rights was compiled by the UN General Assembly: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

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Feb 9, 2013
4 min

The Perks of Being a Wallflower Series, 1.0: Michael's Suicide & the Worth of One

BY ELIZABETH THOMSON Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a 1990s coming-of-age novel that covers every aspect of human life and worth. The main character, Charlie, is a "wallflower" who is writing letters to someone he does not know. During the novel he is learning to "participate" in life rather than remaining a wallflower, and through letters chronicles his high school freshman year experience. Chbosky is unafraid to confront topics such as suicide, rape

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