#volume3issue4

Jan 12, 2015
4 min

Dystopian Utopia: The Giver and the Sanctity of Human Life

At just under 200 pages, The Giver by Lois Lowry is about a one- or two-day read. The novel tells of a society that seeks perfection at the expense of human liberty and human life as well. The Giver is widely read in public schools (including by this writer) and also widely challenged for its disturbing content, particularly in how this society maintains its small population by killing infants and the elderly. For those who understand that The Giver is criticizing this activi

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Jan 12, 2015
4 min

Five Great Anti-War Movies

Movies can be a valuable resource for consistent life ethic activists. A movie that touches on one of the life issues can engage someone’s imagination and emotions in a way that an essay, a news article, or even a novel cannot. Further, hosting a screening is a relatively easy way for students, religious communities, or other activist organizations to gather a group of people together to think and, after the screening, talk about a life issue. With this in mind, here are five

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Jan 12, 2015
5 min

Sexual Assault on Campus, and Why the Accused Should Still Have Justice

Sexual assault is a serious issue, especially on college campuses. The White House’s “It’s On Us” Campaign, launched in September, is just one example of the numerous programs dedicated to stopping sexual assault on campuses and just in general. However, there is an unfortunate trend on college campuses, which should cause anyone concerned about the issue to think twice before embracing changes such as “yes means yes,” also known as “affirmative consent,” or moving towards a

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Jan 12, 2015
3 min

The Imago Dei, or "Why should secularists care about human life?"

I’ve had a few Christian pro-life friends of mine (kindly) tell me they don’t really understand how a secularist can defend the pro-life position. Sure, they get that we don’t need religion to understand fetal development, and we don’t need to believe in a god to recognize that abortion is violence. But they trip over how a secularist could defend the pro-life view on a metaphysical level. Why should secularists care about fetal development or the violence of abortion? What t

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Jan 12, 2015
8 min

After Abortion: The Hard Questions

Contemporary “pro-life” discourse often emphasizes—and rightly so—the goal of ending legal abortion. My criticism of much of it, however, is that it is blindly optimistic. It is fraught with rhetoric about justice for the innocent (and their mothers), but largely fails to examine the legal and socioeconomic fallout of such a momentous shift in public policy. My intent is to bring that fallout to the forefront. I wish first to address the contention that legal prohibition shou

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Jan 12, 2015
6 min

Argument From Bodily Rights

The Supreme Court’s momentous 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade was meant to settle the abortion issue once and for all. Instead, the debate over the morality of abortion has persisted, with polemicists on both sides of the divide offering sophisticated arguments. In this essay I will analyze and refute Judith Jarvis Thomson’s argument from bodily rights presented in her seminal paper “A Defense of Abortion.” I take it as axiomatic that an analogy is apt only to the extent that

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Jan 12, 2015
7 min

Increasingly Isolated: States’ Misguided Attempts to Preserve the Death Penalty

When an ill-conceived yet deeply entrenched practice loses popularity and becomes less common, it does not always fade away quietly. Rather, there often is a final outburst of activity to preserve the practice by its most die-hard supporters, even though its days are numbered. This dynamic played out in the final days of Jim Crow, as authorities intent on maintaining it became increasingly desperate in their tactics. These extreme measures failed to achieve their goal, but in

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Jan 12, 2015
12 min

Preventing a New Cold War: A Proposal for Resolving the Ukraine Crisis

A new Cold War is rapidly taking shape. Relations between the United States and Russia have deteriorated dramatically this past year as the result of the unfolding civil strife in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich accepted and then rejected a trade agreement with the European Union, resulting in popular unrest that led to Yanukovich’s overthrow. Russia then initiated a military occupation and annexation of the Crimea region in Ukraine. Meanwhile, a violent confli

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Jan 12, 2015
3 min

A Migrant's Right to Life and the War Against the Weak

Unaccompanied children from Central and South America have entered the United States by the tens of thousands, and more are on their way. Many of these young people flee extreme poverty and violence in their home countries and suffer through a horrific experience of trafficking and abuse; and upon reaching the United States, they encounter self-described pro-life policymakers scrambling to produce legislation that would expedite their deportation process and promptly repatria

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Jan 12, 2015
3 min

Scalia Wrong on Torture

Federal Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, when interviewed by Radio Television Suisse on December 10, reportedly invoked the ticking time bomb scenario to justify the use of torture, and noted that the Constitution does not specifically prohibit the government from torturing. “I don’t know what article of the Constitution that would contravene,” Scalia said when speaking about torture. This is highly troubling, as the Constitution does bar cruel and unusual punishments. T

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Sep 13, 2011
6 min

What is the Consistent Life Ethic?

BY NICHOLAS NEAL We often hear partisan pundits criticize their opponents for the opponents' inconsistencies about killing people. We hear that pro-life advocates do not respect the sanctity of life in war zones. We hear that peace advocates are not so peaceful when it comes to unborn children. What is the answer to this inconsistency? The simple answer is being consistent. This ideological position is known as the consistent life ethic. The foundation for this ethic is

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Sep 13, 2011
2 min

The Rebels Storming Tripoli

BY NICHOLAS NEAL & AIMEE BEDOY On Tuesday, August 23rd, the rebel forces in Libya stormed Gadhafi's capital of Tripoli, thus declaring victory over the tyrannical leader who had once imposed unjust and inhumane purification laws against his own people. After 42 years in power as an autocratic dictator in Libya, Muammar Gadhafi has been removed from power by rebels within his own borders. Gadhafi is currently out of power and in hiding from NATO forces, but in an effort to k

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Sep 13, 2011
4 min

A Terse Nonpartisan Assessment of Our Political Prospects

BY JULIA SMUCKER It's that time of year again -- or has been, since sometime last year. The mud is flying left and right as a motley crew of politicians competes for our nation's volatile confidence. And who are they trying to appeal to? For a myriad of confounding reasons, our national political discourse has become so polemicized that most prominent candidates, as well as many commentators, seem able to do little more than preach to particular choirs within their own par

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Sep 13, 2011
2 min

The Abolition of Capital Punishment in Illinois

BY NICHOLAS NEAL The abolition of the death penalty in Illinois began when Governor George Ryan placed a moratorium on capital punishment in the state in 2000, after seeing an alarming number of death row inmates being exonerated. Eleven years later, the Illinois General Assembly passed a bill officially abolishing capital punishment in Illinois. It was then up to Pat Quinn to sign it. Now, although Governor Quinn is a Democrat, he had previously spoken in favor of capital

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Sep 13, 2011
6 min

Family Planning Freedom is Pro-Life

BY MARY KRANE DERR The right to access the full range of voluntary family planning methods is often neglected or actively undermined in the name of prolife, especially but not exclusively in the United States. Yet there are nine good reasons -- at least -- why fostering this right is essential to respect in practical deed for all human lives, already born and unborn. 1. Family planning freedom prevents millions of human deaths every year. Voluntary access to modern methods o

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Sep 13, 2011
8 min

Just War, Just Peace, Or What?

BY BILL SAMUEL What should our attitude -- as individuals, social movements and nations -- be toward war? When, if ever, is war justifiable either as to our own participation or as a decision of a nation or social movement? How do we get to a meaningful peace? These questions have been discussed and debated for millennia, and may be even more vital in this day of advanced weaponry. They have been discussed by people from many different religious traditions, and from none.

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Sep 13, 2011
13 min

Justice in the Face of Unknowing

BY AIMEE BEDOY & STEVEN OETJEN A quandary of major proportions faces our nation in this day and age. It could be a matter of life and death for countless persons -- we cannot truly be sure. This paper seeks to examine abortion through the lens of Constitutional law, science, and justice, and lastly to apply these faculties to the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act recently passed in Nebraska. In brief, our recommendation is always to stand for justice and ultimately

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Sep 13, 2011
1 min

Sonnet -- At 40 Weeks

BY LILIANNA SERBICKI Swollen, a dream on its way to fruition; Nothing romantic. Lense (soft-focus) gone. Real fruit bruises; a real fruit stays the motion We make ourselves. Our unkempt pieces drawn Into alignment; some beings are too real To smudge with soft words. Some beings delight In waking up the small pith in the chest With beating limbs. It is a sudden sleight Of soul, not hand; the itch will soon persuade Myself to love my stippled skin far more Than when it held jus

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Sep 13, 2011
1 min

Mother to Child

BY OLIVIA MELDRUM While I am mistress of my mind, You will sleep safely every hour. No morning will you wake to find My warmth turned cold, or sweetness sour. A fragile burden do I bear (O precious visitor; flesh brand-new) - I forget my face and clothes and hair In pain and consciousness of you. My little one, your mama hurts. She shakes at every strange man's gaze. You've joined the Dance - this you deserve; But our dance, dear, limps through a maze. I am not mistress of my

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Sep 13, 2011
5 min

Ten Years Later

BY AIMEE BEDOY I am writing this ten years to the day that those towers fell. And ten years later, I want us to discuss what we have learned from September 11, 2001, and where we as a nation must continue to grow. I am speaking as someone who grew up in this culture, immersed in it wholly from the time I was 12 years old. Perhaps I am not the wisest, or the most sage member of society to speak on these points, but this is what I have learned from my childhood to the present

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