Having been around the pro-life movement now for many years, one of the things I’ve noticed and was reminded of after Easter, was that the Pro-Lifers who are dedicated and actively pro-life are predominantly Christian. I believe this is true mostly because of everything Christianity is and offers, which is predominantly life….life as we live, and life even after we die.
No other faith has such a concentration of focus on this one issue of life. Maybe because the greatest tenant of Christian faith along with the forgiveness of sins, is life. We believe in the One Eternal Triune God who is the creator and giver of life, who took on human life in the womb of Mary, the Son of God who gave his life and rose from the dead and is alive forever, and God the Holy Spirit who breaths life into the dead so we may live forever in the presence of God. The whole gospel message is focused on “life in Jesus’ name”.
The belief and actual medical fact that human life begins at fertilization, not after a date of viability or birth, is adamantly defended by Pro-Life Christians because of the great importance of it, and simply because it is the truth. Maybe this truth of life is upheld by Christians particularly because Jesus is not only revealed as “the life”, but also “the truth”. Why else would we be so adamant?
So, for Christians, the issue of life is very personal and very connected to faith in Christ Jesus. His birth and his life confirm the value of all others. Catholic Christians, in particular, are generally the strongest pro-life group within the Christian community, perhaps because of their great appreciation for mother Mary’s role in the drama of redemption, the holiness of the womb as a sanctuary for God in the flesh, and the sacredness of the life held within her.
Perhaps its Christianity’s focus on injustice and the murder of the innocent as portrayed in the life of Jesus, who instructs us to also find him in the least, weakest, and innocent among us, and to overturn the tables of injustice against them. The gospel truth is that if life wasn’t as important as it is, God would have left us in our graves, but he chose not to. The resurrection proves it.
Despite this, there are many Christians who do of course hold compromised views that match those of other faiths, even the secular world; but no where do we see the passionate and personal acknowledgment of the life of the preborn as we do among the Christians, and the further one gets from the truly unique Christian valuation of life and understanding of its sacredness, the less one defends it. There is no coincidence. The difference is Christ.
Fr. Stephen Maloney
