The newspapers and television news report that the death
toll in the Philippines from the strongest typhoon in recorded history could climb
to 10,000 (or higher). I am reminded of
the cynical but sadly often true observation:
When one person close to you dies, it is a tragedy. When 10,000 people die in a distant land, it
is a statistic. Even for us as Catholics
who cherish the unique value and dignity of each individual, we can find it
difficult to get our minds around loss of life at a large scale, and we struggle
to feel an emotional connection with the victims of disasters occurring in
exotic places.
When I spent a summer teaching in Rome in the Summer of 2007,
I regularly watched “BBC World News” in the mornings and evenings, as it was
one of two English-language stations available on our cable network (the other being,
interestingly enough, “Al Jazeera Sports”).
That was the summer of the 1-35 bridge collapse in the Twin Cities,
which of course was a story of particular interest to those of us from the
University of St. Thomas. But I remember
being struck one morning when the BBC anchor announced, “Ten thousand people
have died in Turkey as the heat wave continues.
But, first, we go to our person on the scene at the bridge collapse in
Minnesota.” (And, yes, the BBC indeed had
a reporter — complete with BBC British accent — at the scene of the bridge
collapse for live reports every half hour.)
Ten thousand dead in Turkey. But
the priority news story for the BBC was the bridge collapse in Minnesota at
which thirteen lost their lives.
Now we can ridicule or disparage the BBC’s choice to
highlight one story over the other, or we might attribute the choice to the race
for ratings. But I think there is
another way to understand that seemingly odd contrast. For those of us in the western developed
world, we can more easily relate to the calamity of a collapsing highway
bridge, plunging dozens of cars into the river — that is, we can imagine such a
thing happening to us. We have more
difficulty imagining ever being in a situation without easy access to cooling
and clean water where scorching temperatures would cost thousands of lives.
Because our empathy and sympathy grows out of
relationships, we naturally will have more for those with whom we are in relationship
— or at least those with whom we identify in common experience and thus can envision
a form of relationship. The Gospel of John reminds us that "God so loved the World," but it is so hard to love "the World" until we develop relationships within the Body of Christ.
The same is true for most of us in America when we see the
images of destruction left by a typhoon on the other side of the globe. We pause to be shocked and sincerely express pity,
but we lack the imagination to be deeply moved (for any length of time) by what
we see. And I must confess that I have
often been counted in that number — wanting to care and meaning to care, but lacking
the connectedness to have the concern of relationship. While I want to do the right thing and lift
up others in prayer and contribute to disaster relief, it may be hard to think
with the mind of Christ about persons so far removed from me and my situation.
For me, not anymore. Or
at least not today. My brother, Dan, was
in a small city on the Filipino island of Biliran, which
was directly in the path of Typhoon Haiyan. You’ve all seen the horrifying images of
death and devastation coming out of Tacloban on the island of Leyte. The provincial capital of Naval on Biliran,
where my brother was staying with his expecting fiancé, is just 50 miles
to the west of Tacloban.
We know Dan and Dayline were in Naval when the storm struck. We have not heard anything more from him in
the few days since, nor has the State Department or the American embassy in
Manila been able to offer us any word of his situation.
We prayerfully assume that they are both well
and simply unable to get word out with electricity and communications down and
likely to remain down for days or weeks more.
We pray that they are able to persevere and find food and water as they
wait for rescue and restoration. And in
praying for my brother, whom I know, I can better envision the lives and plight
of those around him in the wake of the typhoon.
Catholic Relief
Services is working with its partners to provide shelter and water to the tens
of thousands in need in the Philippines.
Please consider giving today:
http://emergencies.crs.org/typhoon-haiyan-help-philippines-survive-and-recover/
On November 7-8, 2013, Washington & Lee University School of Law hosted a conference marking the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. The conference, Roe at 40: The Controversy Continues,http://law.wlu.edu/lawcenter/page.asp?pageid=1620 , was largely organized by Sam Calhoun. The conference was co-sponsored by University Faculty for Life, ACLU of Virginia, Virginia NOW, the Frances Lewis Law Center, the Washington and Lee Law Review, and the Provost’s Office of Washington and Lee University.
The conference was unusual in that a variety of perspectives on abortion were included. The speakers were (in order of appearance): Clarke Forsythe, David Garrow, Sam Calhoun, Mary Zeigler, Richard Myers, Priscilla Smith, Tom Molony, Caroline Mala Corbin, Teresa Collett, Kathy Greenier, Randy Beck, Caitlin Borgman, Michael Paulsen, Maya Manian, Lynne Marie Kohm, Robin Wilson/Ryan Hrobak, and James Mahon. The papers from the conference will be published by the Washington and Lee Law Review.
The conference was quite interesting. I know all of the attendees greatly appreciated the hospitality of Sam Calhoun and everyone at Washington and Lee. The inclusion of diverse perspectives led to some contentious exchanges. I thought one of the fascinating aspects of the conference was the efforts of the supporters of abortion rights to deal with the issue of sex-selection abortion. One response, which revealed how extreme the law is in this country, was that the state can’t ever second guess a woman’s reason to have an abortion at any time during pregnancy. Another response indicated that these abortions didn’t really constitute sex discrimination against girls because until birth these were only potential girls.
This issue–sex-selection abortion–reveals (as do abortions for reason of disability) that the most important principle for supporters of abortion rights is not equality. The governing principle is the autonomous power to make life and death decisons about another human life.
Late last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in an opinion by Judge Sykes, issued a preliminary injunction against the so-called HHS contraception-coverage mandate. In my view, this is one of the most detailed and deep analysis that a federal court has provided of the RFRA arguments against the mandate. I was particularly happy about the close engagement with questions of institutions' religious freedom and church-autonomy principles. (And, I liked the law-review citations on pp. 44 & 45!) Take a look.
I'm very pleased to announce the 2014 Conference on Christian Legal Thought, sponsored by the Lumen Christi Institute at the University of Chicago and the Law Professors Christian Fellowship. The conference occurs in conjunction with the annual AALS meeting, which is being held in Manhattan this year. This year's conference celebrates the life and thought of Professor Jean Bethke Elshtain and explores the theme of public engagement with law and religion.
The schedule is below, and you can register here. I hope to see many MOJ readers there.
Friday, January 3, 2014, 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm
The University Club
One West 54th Street, New York, NY 10019
Conference Topic: Public Engagement With Law and Religion: A Conference in Honor of Jean Bethke Elshtain
Noon: Registration, Luncheon, and Opening Remarks
1:15 pm – 2:45 pm: Session One. Public Engagement With Law and Religion: The Thought of Jean Bethke Elshtain
Chair: Zachary R. Calo (Valparaiso University School of Law)
* Thomas C. Berg (University of St. Thomas School of Law)
* Eric Gregory (Princeton University, Department of Religion)
* Charles Mathewes (University of Virginia, Department of Religious Studies)
2:45 pm – 3:00 pm: Coffee Break
3:00 pm – 4:30 pm. Session Two. Public Engagement With Law and Religion: Journalistic Perspectives
Chair: Marc O. DeGirolami (St. John's University School of Law)
* Matthew Boudway (Associate Editor, Commonweal)
* Susannah Meadows (Columnist, New York Times)
* Rusty R. Reno (Editor, First Things)
4:45 PM – 5:15 pm: Vespers
5:15 pm: Reception
Last week, experts on Human Trafficking from around the world gathered at the Vatican to discuss the growing problem of labor and sex trafficking of human beings. The program was at the direction of Pope Francis who has spoken openly about this problem of modern day slavery. I had waited on blogging about the important conference, which had multi-disciplinary experts from throughout the world, some affiliated with the work of the Church but most independent of it. I waited because I wanted to share with MOJ readers some of the press coverage. Sadly, there was limited coverage of the continued work of the Church in this area (however, it was covered by some Catholic outlets including here and here).
The conference entitled "Trafficking in Human Beings: Modern Slavery" was jointly hosted by Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the World Federation of the Catholic Medical Associations. It featured presentations from 18 experts as diverse as an inspector from Scotland Yard, an Assistant Attorney General from Texas, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Trafficking of Persons, Especially Women and Children, and the European Commission's Anti-Trafficking Coordinator.
As the program noted, The Second Vatican Council observes that "'slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children, and disgraceful working conditions where people are treated as instruments of gain rather than free and responsible persons' are 'infamies' which 'poison human society, debase their perpetrators' and constitute 'a supreme dishonour to the creator'." If the level of speakers in any indication, it does appear that the Holy See is continuing its leadership on this issue and Pope Francis is looking to build on this conference. Although the press coverage was limited, the event did produce a Joint Statement by all participants calling on all relevant actors to take specific measures. It included calling on the Holy See to ratify both the Palermo Protocol as well as the Council of Europe's Convention of Human Trafficking. In addition to calling upon international actors to engage in specific measures, the Statement also listed measures that can be taken by the faithful and individual parishes.
Pope Francis has been outspoken on human trafficking, calling it "despicable" and "a disgrace for our societies which describe themselves as civilized." These are strong words and ones that are being followed up by action. One headline of the coverage read "Pope Wants to Step Up Fight Against Modern Slavery." From the looks of this conference and the actions recommended, this is an accurate description. A major obstacle to fighting human trafficking has been the division between nations and the limited reach of each nation state. Unlike many nation states, the Holy See stands uniquely positioned to mobilize people throughout the globe and this work is a positive step in combatting the deplorable conditions of millions of victims throughout the world.
Saturday, November 9, 2013
The latest response from nine religious-liberty scholars supporting "marriage conscience protection" in same-sex marriage bills has been
updated to remove some quotes from articles by two members of the opposing group of scholars, and to explain in a bit more detail why we think the opposing group has too narrow a view of religious liberty when they oppose including anything other than the narrowest conscience protections in a same-sex marriage bill and say that instead religious objectors should rely on, or try to amend, existing nondiscrimination laws.
