Dignity of Human Life

All throughout the last 6 years, since March of '03 when the Iraq war began, the Democratic party has been opposed to much of it. Though several senators, including Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and others all voted to support the measure going to war. Since then, criticism over the inhuman treatment of people under the American led coalition forces has hit our headlines daily. Who can forget Abu Ghraib? Who can forget Gitmo? The waterboarding scandal. Torture allegations. All of which drove Democrats mad. They were upset at the blatant abuses of human dignity and human rights.

It occurs to me that the Democrats are quite hypocritical in this matter. It's ok to protest the death penalty as applied to adult persons who willfully commit a heinous crime depriving someone of life and/or liberty. It is ok to protest warfare against adult combatants who disguise themselves to hijack planes and slam them into buildings. And it's also ok to tax the American people more to spend money funding foreign abortions of unborn children.

Whoa. Wait a minute. Funding foreign abortions with OUR tax dollars? Is THIS the president we elected!? Yep. It certainly is. It's ok to spend money murdering innocent unborn children, but it's not ok to spend money killing and imprisoning terrorists who want to murder everyone else. Born and unborn alike. I guess that means Obama and his government don't want competition?

So let's examine this in small detail, shall we?

According to statistics? 76.5% of America is Christian. 23.9% of Americans are Catholic Christians, the largest single denomination in the United States. 51.3% of Americans are Protestant Christians. 1.7% are Mormon Christians, and 1.6% are some other denomination of Christian.

Now. We know for a fact that the majority of Protestant Doctrine comes from the Catholic Church. While differences in belief and practice and liturgy have evolved over time, I think it's safe to say that when The Catechism of the Catholic Church says:

"Social justice can be obtained only in respecting the transcendant dignity of man. The person represents the ultimate end of society, which is ordered to him . . . Respect for the human person entails respect for the rights that flow from his dignity as a creature. These rights are prior to society and must be recognized by it. They are the basis of the moral legitimacy of every authority: by flouting them, or refusing to recognize them in its positive legislation, a society undermines its own moral legitimacy. If it does not respect them, authority can rely only on force or violence to obtain obedience from its subjects. It is the Church's role to remind men of good will of these rights and to distinguish them from unwarranted or false claims.

This same duty extends to those who think or act differently from us. The teaching of Christ goes so far as to require the forgiveness of offenses. He extends the commandment of love, which is that of the New Law, to all enemies. (Matthew 5:43-44) Liberation in the spirit of the Gospel is incompatible with hatred of one's enemy as a person, but not with the hatred of the evil that he does as an enemy." (Part III: Life in Christ, paragraphs 1929-30, 33).

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." (Preamble, United States Constitution)

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." (Preamble, 2nd Sentence, Declaration of Independence)

More than 400 million dollars are being spent overseas to 'family planning'. Which means abortions and handing out contraception. The latter? I don't think anyone should really have a problem with. The former? Every person with a conscience, soul, or sense of morality, should be abhorred at. And please do not think for one minute that these are 'medical' abortions done for a legitimate medical purpose to save the life of a mother for example. No, these abortions run the gamut of 1st month to late term abortions. Intending upon killing innocent children just because their parents in the rest of the world wanted to have sex, but not deal with the consequences of offspring.

Now we've seen America's stance on Life and the Sanctity of the General Welfare. We've seen the Catholic Response to human life. I really recommend buying a copy of the Catechism. Even if you're not Catholic or religious at all, it certainly shows, in the strongest language, the relationship between God, Government, and Humanity. It is the duty, therefore, of every Christian person. Indeed every HUMAN person, to stand up against this and demand that the sanctity of life be kept sacred.

The only difference between a human fetus and a 90 year old human being is time. Given time and opportunity, that human fetus can grow up to be a 90 year old human being. Given that reality, it is the same crime, if not a greater one for the amount of time lost, to deprive a developing human life of their chance to grow up and grow old, of their liberty to live life and pursue happiness, as it is to do the same thing to an 18 year old adult. Only that spiritually speaking, the 18 year old adult isn't necessarily an innocent soul. Theologically? Most likely that 18 year old isn't.

For those who don't believe in God? Very well. Here's a challenge.

In biological taxonomy, that is to say, the classification of life, there are 5 Kingdoms: Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Protista, and Monera.

Protista, Monera, as well as a good deal of the other three Kingdoms, are comprised of single celled organisms. The entire science of microbiology is devoted to single-celled organisms. Plankton to Viruses, Algae to Bacteriae.

We define these organisms as 'living'. They carry out the basic necessities of Biological life.

Conventional Definition of Life requires satisfaction of 7 different criteria. If the 7 criteria are satisfied, the organism in question is considered 'alive'.

1. Homeostasis - Regulating the internal environment to maintain constancy.
   
2. Organization - Being constructed of one or more cells, which are the basic units of life.
3. Metabolism - Consumption of chemicals and conversion to energy (anabolism) and decomposing material (catabolism).
   
4. Growth - Maintaining a higher rate of Anabolism than Catabolism.
5. Adaptation - Ability to change over time in response to environmental changes.
6. Response to Stimuli - Exhibiting response to a certain stimulus affecting the organism.
7. Reproduction - The ability to produce new organisms.

By these 7 Criteria we define life. A human fetus exhibits Growth, Metabolism, and Organization as well as Homeostasis from the time of conception when an egg is fertilized. That's 4 down, 3 to go.

Adaptation - The human cells in the body react constantly to environmental stimuli. The growing fetus will change. As it grows older in the womb and displays higher and higher levels of organization, babies like to kick and punch. While we coo and giggle, and mom is usually groaning in pain from having the little tyke beat her up from the inside out, this is a reaction to environmental stimuli. An Adaptation as the infant grows older and fights for room. Shifting and moving around. Not good enough? A mother's nutritional stimuli can give a child problems. Changing the environment by getting sick or eating unhealthy leads the child to have to develop other means of dealing with, or adapting to, these changes. Also, these adaptations result in the formation of the Umbilical Cord, which becomes useless after birth, and that's why it is snipped and falls off after a time.

Response to Stimuli - A fetus has an immune system, one that reacts if mommy gets sick, or even if mommy's blood type is too different. We've seen ultrasound images of unborn infants shying away from the harsh instruments used to perform abortions. But then again, it's only natural to shy away when someone is trying to dismember you.

Reproduction - The creation of new organisms. Here is where things get tricky. Children, even born, cannot reproduce. They have to at least enter puberty for reproduction to be viable. So if the production of other human being offspring is the definition of reproduction? I'd have to say that every child fresh from the womb to about 9 or 10 years old at the beginnings of puberty is not 'alive', failing at this crucial reproductive stage. But then again, so are puppies and kittens and every newborn infant child of almost any species on earth. Even plants and fungi take time to mature before they are able to reproduce. But what we DO reproduce, is cells. The basic unit of life which, by itself in single celled organisms, comprises probably into the 80's if not 90% range of life on the planet Earth. From the moment we are born, our bodies renew themselves and reproduce the cells that we need to carry on life. Even babies lose skin cells and their blood cells die to be recycled in the body. So if that is how we define reproduction, or if we are to say 'wait until maturity' then humans, including unborn fetuses are alive.

Please note: There is not one mention of religion, morality, Christianity, or anything outside of the realm of simple grade school biology here.

That said, we've defined human life in a spiritual context as well as in a scientific context. Both seem to agree that a fetus is a human life. Biologically speaking a human fetus carries on the 7 life functions. Theologically and Philosophically speaking a human being is a human life, regardless of the biological stage of development.

So Mister Obama. You were just inaugurated. While I forgive you for this... abomination against human life and dignity, I abhor your actions and those of your fellow people who consider themselves 'enlightened'. You've sent a clear message Mister President. It's not ok to defend life and liberty in America by stopping terrorism overseas and killing terrorists. But it's perfectly ok to deprive an innocent unborn child of their life and liberty.

So much for Hope.

So much for Change.