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Real Answers™
sh44
Copyright: © ©2004 Shaunna Howat
640 words
CHILDREN VS. INDIVIDUAL LIBERTIES AT THE HEART OF ELECTION ISSUES
By: Shaunna Howat
My husband and I have discussed with friends the major issues of this presidential election. More than the war, homeland security or the economy; almost with one voice we agree that the key ideas in this coming election are homosexuality and abortion. And those most at risk are the most vulnerable: children.
Here’s why: These two items—homosexuality and abortion—touch basic values of humankind. They challenge absolute moral principles.
A conversation with a liberal attorney-friend surprised us and also confirmed our beliefs. He asked my husband what he thought the two hot issues were this coming presidential election, and before he could name them the attorney spoke up: “They’re homosexuality and abortion.”
To him, too, these were pivotal items this year. Even in our disagreement, he agreed that the underlying beliefs surrounding homosexuality and abortion define the conservative/liberal debate. He’s just looking at the other side of the coin.
At its very root is the value of human life and unchanging, natural law. Some of the earliest recorded laws which have been incorporated into Western civilization affirm the worth of human life. For the Judeo-Christian ethic, life is precious because humans were made in God’s image. God tells His people what He can’t stand: “…haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood…” (Proverbs 6:17)
Because every human life has value, killing innocent human beings was decried by civilized societies. This standard advanced through most of humanity over the millennia. And this unchanging truth—that life is precious—was incorporated into the laws of civilized peoples.
Those who hate abortion use the same argument: abortion sheds innocent blood; it kills an unborn child. Mistreat innocent life and it becomes easier to do injustice to all human beings.
For the pro-abortion crowd the issue is individual rights. For them, the control of a woman over her own body—her autonomy—outweighs the life of her unborn baby. Pro-lifers agree that all individuals have rights—balanced with high regard for human life. For an abortion supporter, however, the higher value is not human life, but individual liberty. An unborn baby only has value if he is “wanted.”
Following a similar argument are those who support homosexual marriage. Individual liberties, they say, mean that people should be free to live in any way they please as long as they don’t harm anyone. But they are harming someone: children.
Opposition to homosexual marriage stems also from long-standing natural law. A man and a woman commit to each other to form a life-long bond of marriage and raise children. Every civilized nation in history has followed this practice. In fact, some civilized societies today have experimented with allowing homosexual marriage, and the results are not positive.
In the Scandinavian countries allowing homosexuals to marry, marriage is devalued, and fewer couples are even bothering to marry at all. After all, if marriage has no firm definition, what value does it have? Additionally, 60-80% of children are born out of wedlock.
The big losers in this social experiment are children. Those raised in homes without both a mother and father are more likely to fail in school and get involved in risky behavior. Girls raised without a father are more likely to get pregnant in their teenage years. Statistics from myriad studies bear out the reality that children do best when raised in a loving home by both a mother and father.
So the two basic issues at the heart of this year’s presidential debate separate those who uphold traditional moral values, as guided by God’s natural law, from those who uphold the right of an individual to live his own life the way he pleases. And the very root of it ignores a basic, appalling fact: upholding those individual liberties over all else means trampling on the most vulnerable in society—children, born or unborn.
"Real Answers™" furnished courtesy of The Amy Foundation Internet Syndicate. To contact the author or The Amy Foundation, write or E-mail to: P. O. Box 16091, Lansing, MI 48901-6091; amyfoundtn@aol.com
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