I came across this marker while walking in the St Joseph Catholic Cemetery, one of four cemeteries clustered along Oakwood Road. I seldom talk about this, but I agree with the convictions written here. I do not condone all their rhetoric or tactics, but in principle I believe the pro-life position is right. And just as gay rights is the great blind spot for people on the religious right, so the rights of an unborn child is the great blind spot for people on the religious left. “When do human rights begin?” is a good and necessary question that we have barely begun to answer. Years ago a woman convinced me that human life begins at conception, and that conviction has never left me. What this means for law and public policy, I do not know. I only know that when we restrict our definition of who is human, we always run into problems.
“I only know that when we restrict our definition of who is human, we always run into problems.” Yes, absolutely. That restriction is our unmaking of God’s creation.
I like the expression that human life begins at conception. While an egg and a sperm are live cells, each alone could not develop into a human. I believe we are connected with God and carry a divine spark, but I wonder how that connection is made? Before or after conception?
In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.
–Psalm 139.16
I’d say my connection to God (or rather God’s connection to me) was before I was ever conceived, and will continue on after my body is ashes. Each of our books exists in God independent of our temporality.