Articles

A Culture of Life in the Families

Opinion | Articles | Samuel D. Baite | 05-Oct-2022

Introduction

In the world we live there exist two opposite cultures about life – ‘the culture of life’ and ‘the culture of death’, the latter growing fast and destroying the former. The culture of life believes that human life at all stages from conception through natural death is sacred. This is confronted by the culture of death that propagates the idea that humans have freedom and that life can be terminated at any point in time. The culture of life is those values that enable life to grow in its fulness. Such values are love, care and respect for human life at all stages, peace, and understanding in the world. The culture of death on the other hand does not allow life to grow to its fullness. It is most often applied in the context of euthanasia, assisted suicide, and abortion (including the use of contraception). Realizing the gravity of the negative impact the culture of death will bring to humanity. Pope John Paul II in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae wrote, “Modern debates on abortion and euthanasia are a symptom and leading edge of something more profound and insidious- an entire view of the world that will lead us to forsake our ideals of human dignity and equality and revert to the state of barbarism.” Among the culture of death, the discussion here focuses on abortion and highlights the value of life, the effects of destroying life (through abortion) in families, and the basic call of every Christian (esp. us Catholics) to love and protect life by promoting the culture of life.

On abortion

At the dawn of salvation, it is the birth of the child which was proclaimed as joyful news. “I bring you good news of great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a saviour, who is Christ the Lord. (Lk. 2:10-11).” The source of this ‘great joy’ is the birth of our saviour Jesus Christ.

One of the most important purposes of marriage is procreation. The tangible sign of procreation is the birth of a child. It is the fruit of the womb. The birth of a child in the family is a joyful moment for the family and those around. The birth of Jesus has become the fulfillment of joy at every child born into the world. It is taken as a sign of God’s blessing. It is a sign that God is not yet weary of the world. That is why Rabindranath Tagore, the great poet, and noble laureate said, “Every child comes with a message that God is not yet discouraged of man.” On the other hand, not bearing a child is considered to be a curse in most societies. Even in the bible, we see many instances where barrenness is seen as a curse and barren women are treated with contempt. Barrenness deprives the woman and the family of the joyful celebrations of childbirth.

In the modern world, the birth of a child which is supposed to bring a great joy is unfortunately seen as a dreaded thing by many people. It may be for fear of the responsibility it will bring, and therefore they terminate the life of unborn babies. But “it is poverty to kill a child so that one can live as he she wishes,” said Mother Teresa.  The growing spread of false and immoral propaganda like population explosion, Planned Parenthood, liberty of women, the sexual revolution, artificial reproduction methods, etc. increased the gravity of threats to the weak and defenceless lives. The fundamental right of a child to live is trampled upon. Pope John Paul II decrying the heinous crime of not defending the right to life of children said, “If the right to life is not defended decisively as a condition for all other rights of a person, all other references to human rights remain deceitful and illusory.”

To facilitate the spread of abortion enormous sum of money had been invested and continues to be invested in the production of pharmaceutical products which make it possible to kill the fetus in the mother’s womb without recourse to medical assistance. Movements for the legalization of abortion have become more common and many nations become victims of this. Ironically, those countries which legalized abortion, on the other hand, have strict laws against murder. And “all people who are for abortion are already born,” observed Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States. Medical practitioners who solemnly declared, on being admitted as a medical practitioner, ‘to maintain the utmost respect for life, from the time of conception even under threat’ and pledged ‘not to use their medical knowledge contrary to the laws of humanity’ are the ones in whose hand most lives succumb to death.

The blood of many unborn is shed in the hands of those who are already born. They are the Herod of today. Like the Herod of old who used the mighty and well-trained soldiers to kill the innocent babies, the Herods of today used well-trained professionals to do the job. “The difference between the Herod of old and the Herods of today are in the weapons used and the number of victims. Herod used swords and spears to kill the Holy Innocents. Today’s Herods use abortion “The Pill” and other chemical weapons. And whereas Herod killed a relatively small number of babies, today’s Herods have butchered hundreds of millions with no end in sight (Msgr. Ignacio Barriero).” The womb which is supposed to be the safest place for the child has become a graveyard, a slaughter place. What will the next child to come feel about being conceived in the same graveyard? “I will demand an account of your life-blood… I will demand an account of every man’s life from his fellow man.” (Gen. 9:5) And for the mother, the post-abortion syndrome (PAS) that follows is terrible. For ‘the child may be taken out of the mother’s womb, but not out of her mind.’

 Effect of abortion on families

There are many instances where abortion badly affected family relations in our society and elsewhere. The most affected victim is the mother whose womb becomes fruitless. Many studies identified the tremendous traumatic effects on the perpetrators, especially the woman. Some of those dangers are anger, doubt, guilt, depression, anxiety, etc. No one, after having committed the heinous crime, can be free from guilt. The guilt feeling on both the parents affects their bonding. It also affects their relationships with the other members of the family and their other children. It can lead the woman to be violent to her other children. When children come to know about what has happened, they tend to lose their trust in their parents. The abortion of the first child can curtail the development of a mother-child bond and block the normal expression of mothering functions to the next child. The aborted child was the grandchild of the grandparents. Many grandparents cannot accept the fact that they have lost their grandchild. It results in confusion, and loss of trust, and consequently the family’s peaceful atmosphere is affected. It breaks down families and there is the loss of the future. “A nation that kills its babies is a nation without a future,” said Pope Paul II. And the family that kills its babies is a family without a future.

The call to promote a culture of life

The Catholic Church has time and again makes its stand clear on the use of contraception to prevent life and taking the life of the unborn through abortions. Pope Paul VI in his encyclical ‘Humanae Vitae’ (Human Life) vividly explained the value of life and the need and importance of protecting it. In spite of being the lone church to stand against it (until 1930 all protestant denominations also stood with the teachings of the Catholic Church), the church has not altered its stand. This is because it is fully aware that contraception and abortions are in conflict with divine law and nature. “Life is a gift that must be protected from conception until death,” said Pope Benedict XVI. It is the basic call of every Christian, for that matter every human being, to stand against the ‘culture of death’ and promote ‘the culture of life.’ By promoting the culture of life, we can lessen the number of broken families. And, in fulfilling this basic call we can stand in unison with the Holy Mother Church in doing God’s holy will.

 (The writer is a Ph.D Scholar in the Department of Social Work, Mizoram University. He can be reached on sambaite@gmail.com. Views expressed are personal)

 

         

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