"We oscillate wildly from confidence in individuals to pushing the government into their decision calculus. When it came to Cho's personal heath situation, Congress vested in him the ability to determine who has access to his status and information, even though that choice could, and did, endanger the lives of others. By contrast, the Court disempowered women by no longer permitting them to make their own health and reproductive decisions, even though the outcome to the fetus is the same whether it's terminated via dilation and evacuation (the permissible approach) or intact dilation and evacuation, the now impermissible method." --Adam Hanft
Death is Sometimes Necessary to Preserve Life
By Ian Lawton
Many people have been inspired by the story of the Virginia Tech lecturer, Liviu Librescu, who was shot and killed in the doorway of his class room. He had used his body as a human shield to allow his students time to flee out the windows. Librescu was a Holocaust survivor, who then escaped communist Romania in the 1970s before arriving in America in 1985.
It brings to mind the famous line from Schindler’s List- “He who saves one life, saves the world entire.”
Librescu prioritized the lives of his young students over his own. His act of bravery was spontaneous, yet profound. He exercised the part within all of us that knows the value of life, and knows that sometimes death is necessary to preserve life. That’s the central truth of the Christian Easter story.
Interestingly, while the media was saturated with images from Virginia Tech, some other very significant world events were almost completely lost to public attention. The same week saw the death of hundreds in Baghdad bombings, and hundreds in fighting between Ethiopian and Somali rivals. Those deaths numbering in the hundreds were deemed less newsworthy than 33 deaths in Virginia. This is not in any way to minimize the loss of the 33 in Virginia, nor to minimize the issues the shootings raised. However the lack of attention on other significant events raises questions about the culture that has evolved in the West. What does this say about how we value life and prioritize death?
Important news about abortion in the US passed almost without notice. The US Supreme Justices voted 5-4 to legislate that it is now a crime for doctors to perform "partial birth'' abortions, allowing the first nationwide ban on the procedure. The legislation doesn't make any exceptions for pregnancies that pose a risk to the mother's health.
Under the law, doctors may be put in prison for two years and fined up to $250,000 for partially delivering a living fetus and subsequently killing it "deliberately and intentionally.'' They may also be liable for monetary damages for psychological injury to the woman's husband or parents.
This law passed quietly into existence, drowned out by a morbid fascination with the Virginia Tech shooter’s incoherent video rants. Once again, the Supreme Court decision and the choices of the media say much about how life is valued and death is prioritized.
The events of last week make me wonder whether, like Librescu, a mother should retain the right to choose the life of her unborn fetus over her own. Should she also be free to choose her own survival, on the basis that her unborn fetus is not yet a life or is not a viable life? Should the mother have the right to work with her doctor to ensure that her choice is respected, whatever the choice? What would it look like for the State’s right to legislate to be balanced with the choice of the mother and the protection of the doctor?
Religions have struggled with questions of life and death and when a life begins. We shouldn’t expect traditions that grew out of a different age to offer absolute guidance on modern issues like abortion. They lacked the science that we have, and had different legal, social and family structures. Children were disposable in many ancient cultures, as were women, and women's rights were a low priority. While religions have little reason to be making moral pronouncements on issues such as abortion, their stories and parables pose important questions that help us reflect deeply on the relative value of life and death.
Take, for example, a parable in the Talmud about a building that collapsed on the Sabbath. The rescue crew does not know if anyone is trapped under the rubble or not. And even if someone is trapped, they may already be dead. Despite these doubts, they push aside the restrictions of Sabbath in order to dig out the rubble - on the chance that it may result in the prolonging of even one human life. The point is that saving one life, even a doubtful life, is saving the entire world. But which life takes priority? That can’t be dogmatized. It has to be discerned in the context. The final question raised in the parable is the balance of personal choice and “law”. Sabbath in this case could be analogous to the Supreme Court. The Sabbath creates a framework for service to the earth and humanity. So should the Supreme Court.
A passage in the Mishna, a second century Jewish text, is intriguing. It suggests that if the partial life of the fetus is weighed against the full life of the mother, precedence should be given to saving the full life. Partial and full life are defined- "...a baby...becomes a full-fledged human being when the head emerges from the womb. Before then, the fetus is considered a 'partial life.'"
Again, this is pre-scientific and not normative for our age, but it is an open statement and more open than most religious comments on abortion. It is certainly more open than the new Supreme Court ruling would leave it. Judaism leaves plenty of room for personal choice.
In the Christian tradition, Jesus similarly opened up the possibilities for freedom according to circumstance. Jesus opened up the definition of “murder” to include dark and hostile thoughts. He raised the bar on motivation, where intent is the spirit of the law, and lessened a literal dependence on the letter of the law. The Sermon on the Mount is a profound statement of personal responsibility that is a balance of freedom and accountability. It frames the question as “What is the most loving response in a given situation?”
Bottom line- I see nothing in the Judeo- Christian tradition that outright condemns abortion. Rather than offering an absolute position on the issue, it’s a tradition that poses the questions in such a way as to encourage personal discernment.
Carol Gilligan wrote a book called “In a Different Voice.” In it she outlines the development of personal discernment on this issue. Gilligan poses the question, “Should a woman be allowed to have an abortion?” and traces the response of a group of women over the course of time. She notices that there are three general answers-
1. Yes, because what an individual says is right, is right.
2. No, because what society says is right, is right.
3. Yes, because there are larger principles at stake that are a blend of individual and societal rights and obligations.
Gilligan, and other “integral” theorists suggest that people and societies move through these general stages of moral development, from individual authority to external authority to integral authority. Integral authority balances inner motivations and outer obligations, individual values and group norms, biology and social structures. This balance comes together in a discernment that could be called “fully integrated, freely functioning, Big Mind and Big Heart.”
My deep hope is that as individuals and as a society, we can stretch towards this integral response to life and death. Maybe Virginia (and Iraq and Somalia) are our modern day parables, posing the question with no absolute answers about our valuing of life and our prioritizing of death.
There is a real life parable that motivates me. The situation is etched in my mind. It was the day I arrived to conduct a funeral for an elderly woman. It was a typical grave yard scene, dark and cold. But this one was different. Not even one person attended the service. It was just me and the funeral directors, and we wondered if there was any point continuing with the service. We decided that we had to, and we did. We prayed, we sang and we eulogized as if there were a thousand people present. This life that was ending in such isolation would be given all the respect and honor we could muster. Her name was Joan, and when we honored Joan we were honoring the entire world.
What is the real life situation that motivates you? Where do you get your priorities to value life and death? What do you think? Should a woman be allowed to have an abortion? Should the State be able to legislate the choice away? Will you allow the media to determine your priorities?
You have a Big Mind, larger than you could ever imagine. It’s large enough to hold all the complexities of the circumstances without being blinded by prejudice or partial perspective. You have a Big Heart, larger and more open than anything you could imagine. It’s large enough to hold all the pain and tragedy of life and death and not be destroyed by it. With your Big Mind and your Big Heart, you have all that you need to make the discernment. Integrate them and function freely. All else will then become clear.
Washington Post: High Court Upholds Curb on Abortion
By Robert Barnes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 19, 2007; Page A01
The Supreme Court broke new ground yesterday in upholding federal restrictions on abortion, with President Bush's two appointees joining a court majority that said Congress was exercising its license to "promote respect for life, including the life of the unborn."
The court's 5 to 4 decision upholding the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act passed by Congress in 2003 marked the first time justices have agreed that a specific abortion procedure could be banned. It was also the first time since the landmark Roe v. Wade decision of January 1973 that justices approved an abortion restriction that did not contain an exception for the health of the woman. It does, however, provide an exception to save the woman's life...
Continue reading Washington Post article here
Taking Time To Remember
As we have once again in recent weeks been broken open to the pain of death and violence, let us continue to be opened to the reality of pain and suffering around the world.
More than 3,300 U.S. service men and women have died as a result of the U.S. occupation of Iraq and the Washington Post reports an estimated 655,000 Iraqis have died due to the conflict. We offer this eulogy, not to be compared with or to diminish the tragedy at Virginia Tech, but as a means to reflect on suffering, tragedy, and sacrifice.
Lance Cpl. Gregory P. Rund
Age: 21
Hometown: Littleton, CO
Date of Death: 12/11/2004
Incident Location: Anbar province, Iraq
Branch of Military: Marines
Rank: Lance Cpl.
Unit: 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division
Unit's Base: Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Gregory P. Rund was a freshman at Columbine High School when two students killed 13 people. He also served two tours of duty in Iraq. Despite such experiences, Rund's family said he would rather direct the conversation toward a laugh, and someone else's story. "Greg made us so proud, but he never wanted to be recognized for his actions," Rund's family said in a statement. "Neither Columbine nor Iraq was to define him." Rund, 21, of Littleton, Colo., died Dec. 11 in Fallujah. He was based at Camp Pendleton. Rund regularly had to crawl across the school field as punishment because he made jokes during football practice. "He talked about the Marines; during boot camp they had to do something pretty similar," said his coach, Andy Lowry. And then came Rund's punch line: They were easier on him in the Marines. Rund enlisted shortly after graduating in 2002. "He never did anything like everyone else did," his family said. "He did everything to the extreme and always knew that somehow with his humor and a little luck, he would make it through." He is survived by his parents, Jane and Mark.
We need your help
Please send any information you can that can help us continue to shift our perspective and bring the tragedies of the world closer to home. We welcome resources on any topics including: Iraqi perspectives on the war, personal accounts of the genocide in Sudan, reflections on the difficult struggle with mental illness, stories of poverty, AIDS, and any other pain, suffering, or injustice in our world today. Help us to continue to see the world through new eyes, eyes of expanding compassion.
Follow this link for more stories and tributes to fallen soldiers
Transformation in the Face of Tragedy
If you are still struggling to find meaning and comfort in the wake of the increase of violence personified by the shootings at Viriginia Tech and felt in countless other tragedies around the world, you cannot afford to miss reading Ian's latest sermon.
This Earth Day Ian opened a path for us to explore not only our deep connections to the earth, but also our connections to each other, and to pain and suffering.
Coming from the inspiration of the gospel story of Jesus healing a blind man, Ian uses this story to teach us,
"Sometimes we expect growth, and transformation to come about in glorious and superhuman manifestations. More likely, transformation comes about in dark places when our hearts break wide open to the possibilities that grow out of pain. Most often, transformation comes about when we take hold of our most human qualities, saliva, and the earth’s most basic elements and trust them as the path on which we must travel."
This sermon will inspire you to grow through even the most difficult times, and to have the courage to awaken to your fullest potential.
read sermon text here
Celebrate National Pluralism Sunday
The Center for Progressive Christianity is a non-profit organization seeking to provide guiding ideas, networking opportunities, and resources for progressive churches, organizations, individuals and others with connections to Christianity.
As a national network of 370 affiliated congregations of many demonimations, The Center for Progressive Christianity, will be celebrating the diversity of the world's religions on Pluralism Sunday, on May 27, 2007.
What is Pluralism?
Diana Eck, Harvard professor and founder of the Pluralism Project, writes this as to what it means to her to be a Christian Pluralist,
"Through the years I have found my own faith not threatened, but broadened and deepened by the study of Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, and Sikh traditions of faith. And I have found that only as a Christian pluralist could I be faithful to the mystery and the presence of the one I call God. Being a Christian pluralist means daring to encounter people of very different faith traditions and defining my faith not by its borders, but by its roots."
Stay tuned for more information on the pluralism celebrations taking place at Christ Community Church including a discussion group on the popular book, "The Faith Club."
For those of you not in western Michigan, The Center for Progressive Christianity offers ways to get involved in a Pluralism Celebration in your area.
We encourage all to check out The Center for Progressive Christianity's website by following the link below to learn more about pluralism.
Learn more about Pluralism Sunday here
Hindu - Christian Conversations
National Day of Prayer
Hindu - Christian Conversations
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Central United Methodist Church
Muskegon, MI
The National Day of Prayer was designated by congress as the first Thursday in May. To honor this day there will be a 12-hour program as a come and go event in order to accomodate work schedules.
A panel discussion taking place from 1:00 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. will include many of the day's speakers such as:
* Dr. Indra Makhija, Mother's Trust/Lakeshore Interfaith Institute, Chicago IL;
* Swami Tapasananda, Mother's Trust/Lakeshore Interfaith Institute, Ganges MI;
* Ms. Nancy Wanha Spalink, Ammachi Initiate, Rockford MI;
* Mr. Fred Stella, President of Interfaith Dialogue Association, Grand Rapids, MI;
* Rev. Dr. J. Paul Rajashekar, Lutheran Seminary, Philadelphia, PA;
* Dr. Michelle Loyd-Paige, President, Preach Sista! Muskegon MI;
* Rev. Ian Lawton, Christ Community Church, Spring Lake MI;
* Rev. Sally Seith, United Church of Christ, Muskegon MI
Other events include a Big Mind spiritual transformation session led by our own Ian Lawton, yoga meditation and chant with Fred Stella, Sacred Art and Expressions of Faith with local artists, and many, many more fabulous sessions.
Registration and a fee of $10 is requested by May 1. Contact Kryssis Bjork from more information at 231-865-1373.
An Inconvenient Truth Showing
You will not want to miss this incredible opportunity to learn more about the environment and ways you can stop global warming at our showing of the Oscar-winning film “An Inconvenient Truth” on Saturday, April 28, at 7:00 p.m. in the Sanctuary.
“Take-action” tables with practical information on how you can stop global warming will be available before the film at 6:30 p.m.
Director Davis Guggenheim eloquently weaves the science of global warming with Mr. Gore's personal history and lifelong commitment to reversing the effects of global climate change. A longtime advocate for the environment, Gore presents a wide array of facts and information in a thoughtful and compelling way. "Al Gore strips his presentations of politics, laying out the facts for the audience to draw their own conclusions in a charming, funny and engaging style, and by the end has everyone on the edge of their seats, gripped by his haunting message," said Guggenheim. An Inconvenient Truth is not a story of despair but rather a rallying cry to protect the one earth we all share. "It is now clear that we face a deepening global climate crisis that requires us to act boldly, quickly, and wisely," said Gore.
Watch the trailer for An Inconvenient Truth Here
This Sunday at Christ Community Church
This Sunday will be ignited by the spirit of fire with gatherings at 8:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. Ian Lawton will be preaching and music will be provided by Lisa Chorny, Bob Kleinheksel, and the women of the Sanctuary Choir.
Following our gathering a slide presentation will begin at 10:45 a.m. on climate control with Dr. Kathryn Savoie. Dr. Savoie is the Environmental Program Director at the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) in Dearborn, Michigan. Dr. Savoie was one of 1,000 persons in United States recruited and trained by Al Gore to make presentations for the purpose of educating and energizing citizens to address the crisis of climate change by conserving resources and making life-style changes.
You will not want to miss this incredible opportunity to learn about the easy and important life-style changes you can make to be the change you wish to see in the world.
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