I've been raised Catholic since birth, and I've been receiving a Catholic education since kindergarten, so the Ten Commandments are certainly familiar territory to me. Having ten concrete rules to live by in order to be a good Christian makes enough sense. However, I feel like it is sometimes hard to tell what God intended the Commandments to mean, as opposed to what human beings say they mean. Take the Fifth Commandment: "Thou shalt not kill." It's obvious that God doesn't want us all going on murdering sprees, but beyond that, this statement is a bit vague. As an independent thinker, I don't necessarily agree with everything the Church says counts as killing, but I do think I have a good sense of right vs. wrong. And so today I shall discuss my thoughts on three different subjects: abortion, capital punishment, and assisted suicide.
Abortion is an extremely controversial topic, and one on which I have a strong opinion. I have to agree with the standard Catholic belief that infanticide is evil simply because that's what my conscience tells me. I know not everyone is ready to have children, and there are people like rape victims who don't even choose to become pregnant, but I just don't understand how anyone could live with the guilt of killing their own child. And it's wrong to not give a baby a chance at life because of a lack of money to raise it. There is such a thing as adoption, you know. There are plenty of couples out there who can't have children of their own and would love to have someone else's. I know some people think that sending a child off to an orphanage might not give them the best quality of life, but even a difficult life is better than not having the chance to live at all. Even if giving birth could be dangerous for the mother, I think it's supposed to be a natural instinct that parents will do whatever it takes to protect their children, even if it means dying. Besides, I don't see any issues with birth complications that couldn't be solved by manner of Caesarean section, so in first world countries, this shouldn't even be a problem. Now, I'm not sure if I want abortion to be illegal, since I know it's going to happen whether it's legal or not, but I do find it totally disgusting.
As for capital punishment, I think I've been over this in an earlier post, but it never hurts to state my opinion again. There is no reason to kill a criminal who is already locked away in prison where he can't do society any harm. Why kill without necessity? Not only is taking a life something God alone has the right to do, it robs the person of the opportunity to atone for his sins, and no matter how obvious it may seem that someone is guilty, there is almost never any such thing as complete proof. The justice system has failed in the past, and it would be horrible to execute someone for a crime he did not even commit. I know sometimes killing is unavoidable. I understand that there are cases when a person is running away and arresting him might not be doable without some gunshots, but these shots should not hit any vital organs if possible. Killing should always be a last resort.
Assisted suicide is probably the only type of killing that I'm truly iffy about. On the one hand, doctors are sometimes wrong when they tell a person he is going to die - My grandpa had skin cancer when he was about forty, and the doctors gave him six months to live. He is now 84, and in pretty good health for his age. - so choosing to be euthanized because you are going to die anyway is not a foolproof plan. However, nobody deserves to be a vegetable; that doesn't qualify as being alive in my opinion. I think if a person knows that he will be comatose for the rest of his life, he should have the right to die before that happens, while he still has the free will to make that decision. I guess my solution to such a problem would be to take someone off of life support in a situation like this. It's not the same as a lethal dose of drugs; it's letting nature take its course. I just don't see the point of keeping someone's body alive when the soul is not in it.
I guess for me, my stances on issues like these are brought about by the common sense that God gave me. If my gut tells me something is wrong, then it must be wrong. Regardless of religion, I think if everyone trusted their instincts, there would be a lot less tragedy in the world.
Picture courtesy of Pontus Edenberg.
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