Have you ever had a three-legged stool when one leg goes a bit wonky or loose? The stool is in danger of failing in its job and you might end up on the floor!
It is a useful image of the three key ‘legs’ or strands of being pro-life, respecting and supporting life from conception to natural death. The failure of one strand puts the remainder at risk. Direct threats to life can be summarized as abortion, euthanasia, and of course judicial murder i.e the death penalty.
Many people thought that the death penalty in this country had been left in the past in people’s minds and expectations. However recently I was made aware of an online ‘discussion ‘ by several people claiming to be pro-life who claimed, wrongly, that being pro-life is consistent with the death penalty. Of course it is not consistent with being pro-life, and in fact is divisive. It wasn’t even really a discussion as they essentially all had the same viewpoint, so it was more of a propaganda exercise.
Humanists for Life take a clear position in relation to threats to life, being opposed to abortion, euthanasia and any death penalty. This has the strength of being consistent in valuing life, and consistency is very important and persuasive in witnessing to values by which we live.
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