Steve Wagner provides a nice quick, one minute pro-life argument:

If the unborn is growing, it must be alive. And if it has human parents, it must be human. And living humans, or human beings like you and I, are valuable aren’t they? From conception, all that’s added to the unborn is a proper environment and adequate nutrition. But those are the same things all of us need. And not only that. There’s one quality all of us have equally that demands equal treatment: we all have a human nature. Racism and sexism are wrong because they pick out external differences and ignore the underlying similarity between men and women, blacks and whites. And my concern is for your rights as a woman, that you can vindicate them against the will of the majority, but you can only vindicate your rights if you base them on your human nature. But the unborn also has that same human nature, so shouldn’t we protect him from discrimination just like we protect minorities and women?

Human Rights abortion, intrinsic-value, pro-life, Steve-Wagner

Back in the Fall of 2006, I had the pleasure of meeting Steve Wagner, who came to speak at the CareNet Annual Banquet on the importance defending the sanctity of life.  Recently, Steve moved over to Justice for All as their Director of Education. 

Steve has written a book called Common Ground without Compromise:  25 questions to create Dialogue on Abortion. 

I’m in the process of reading it – if reading is the right word (reflecting is more like it).  I want to borrow a tactic from the book and wait until I’ve finished reading and provided the serious consideration that the book deserves prior to giving it an intended review. 

I will hint that the direction this book is guiding is to seriously rethink my approach to debating the whole issue of human rights when it comes to life and the medical procedure of abortion.

Should be interesting to share reactions.

Human Rights abortion, review, Steve-Wagner

or there’s more to gray than meets the eye

Steve Wagner of Stand to Reason is soliciting comments regarding Adam Hamilton’s interview in Newsweek, which Adam discusses on his own blog.

Steve’s a very thoughtful and considerate guy, so when he notes someone besides himself is looking for common ground in the abortion debate it’s worth a closer look. Prior to opening the discussion, Steve is taking his time to reflect on the solutions described by Adam.

Okay – I admit, I didn’t reflect for so long, because simply browsing the chapter revealed some thinking that needs some immediate clarification, and it has to do with reflection. I may think differently after a more thorough read.

I think Adam’s quote, along with his book illustrations summarizes what I see as essential to understanding his discussion:

I believe that number could be halved if people might be willing to see enough gray to work together with those who view this issue differently than they do.

Adam needs a little lesson on color theory, because he’s forgetting that how you morally proceed is based entirely on your perspective of God and the nature of man – in other words your foundational world-view.

Here’s a nice gray metaphor – are we paper or are we a dark computer screen?

The additive color model is distinctly different from the subtractive. One adds light, while the other removes it. For instance, starting with a white page, dark spots added will remove the light reflection from the surface to arrive at gray. Conversely, if you are starting with a dark screen, you must add light to arrive at gray.

So is the substrate light or dark to begin with? In other words, is man currently good or evil? The substrate governs how we procede. But what is added, the procedure, also is crucial.

Clearly abortion is a moral procedure, but is it light or a dark spot? You can’t answer that question without knowing if the substrate is dark or light.

So Adam’s prescription for working towards middle ground makes an assumption that cannot be made – at least in a world of black and white, or more aptly, in a world of truth and light.

Because if the intention is to move towards gray, two opposite models will lead you there from two distinct directions, but only one fulfills God’s will.

He assumes the substrate is the common ground, or a single dimension, which it isn’t.

Only the light is the common element.

If we are called to be salt and light to this world, then our every move should reveal Christ to illuminate the darkness we face.

Morality abortion, moral relativity, Steve-Wagner