Nothing New Under the Sun

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Our adversaries in the culture of death are on the ascent here in Canada. They have had much success, they have solidified their position that Canada is one of only five countries that permits abortions at nine months for any reason and have greatly expanded the number of people that are euthanized, and that can be euthanized. There is a very good reason for this.

It is useful to be able to kill.

There is great value in being able to decide who lives and who dies, particularly if the person you choose to die is deemed to be a potential burden or cost on yourself. This is nothing new. It is as old as history. The most likely targets are those least able to defend themselves. Attempting to kill someone who can fight back can be very costly, so it is avoided where prudent. Children are those most targeted. History is full of the demise of children, typically at the hands of their own parents. Infanticide was common place to the ancient Greeks, before baptism in the Christian middle ages, and through drowning in dynastic China. Child sacrifice was well known to the Incas and the Carthaginians, and the Old Testament frequently refers to not letting sons and daughters pass through the fire. Today, the sacrifice isn’t to Molech through burning as in the times of the Canaanites, but instead the small broken bodies are burnt in medical incinerators. Frequently sacrificed to the god of convenience.

But there is a countering force. Within the human spirit there is a desire to protect the vulnerable. To nurture, to care, and to elevate and honor the sanctity of life. Some of the earliest archeological digs show of the care for the handicapped. Child killings have frequently been met with revulsion, and successful efforts have been made throughout history to fight infanticide, such as the foundling hospitals started in Europe in the 18th century.

An additional countering force is that although it is useful to kill, it most certainly isn’t useful to be killed. When a society grants a license to kill, typically the list of who can be killed grows. It isn’t long before those who have granted the power come to the realization that they might soon be in the cross hairs. What ended the reign of terror in the French revolution was the killing of the primary catalyst for it in Robespierre. The understanding that none were now safe very much altered the attitudes of his remaining contemporaries. The acceptance of the growth of abortion in the 1930s, primarily through the efforts of the Nazis, was thoroughly refuted after the war and the realization of how the acceptance of such inhumanity had then led to the deaths of over 70 million.

That realization will come again. There is nothing new under the sun. There will be a catalyst that makes our society realize the ugliness that it has embraced, and the profound consequences of that ugliness. Our role is to preserve as many lives as possible before the dawn finally comes.

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Andrew Thomson Edmonton Prolife President