Consistently Opposing Killing: From Abortion to Assisted Suicide, the Death Penalty, and War [Hardcover]

Rachel M. MacNair (Editor), John S. Zunes (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 031335278X | ISBN-13: 978-0313352782 | Publication Date: April 30, 2008

This work explains an increasingly popular view dubbed the Consistent Life Ethic, which holds that all life deserves reverence, so all social support for actions that destroy life should be withdrawn. The call is for opposition to abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia and other forms of killing to be consistent. Supporters of this view, shared widely in these pages, include figures from the Dalai Lama and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malread Corrifon Maguire to actor Martin Sheen and Village Voice columnist Nat Hentoff. It is at once an ethical, religious and political ideology, explored here in its application to actions from treatment of unborn humans to infants, the disabled, the poverty-stricken, war combatants and animals.

In the work at hand, contributors explain the history of the pro-life movement, its growth and expansion, how these types of seemingly disparate killing are all linked, why a Consistent Life Ethic is needed, and how individuals can take steps to assure this ethic is more widely accepted.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The societal wounds of racism, poverty, and a penchant for using violence to address problems are intimately connected to the death penalty, to war, to the killing of the old and demented, and to the killing of children, unborn and born. If more people were familiar with the consistent life ethic, as expounded in this book, then the voice of all unseen vulnerable people would be better heard."-Sister Helen Prejean, Author of Dead Man Walking

Review

"The societal wounds of racism, poverty, and a penchant for using violence to address problems are intimately connected to the death penalty, to war, to the killing of the old and demented, and to the killing of children, unborn and born. If more people were familiar with the consistent life ethic, as expounded in this book, then the voice of all unseen vulnerable people would be better heard."

(

Sister Helen Prejean, Author of Dead Man Walking

)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Praeger (April 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031335278X
• ISBN-13: 978-0313352782
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,337,477 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Consistency, May 3, 2008

By 

Rose Evans (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Consistently Opposing Killing: From Abortion to Assisted Suicide, the Death Penalty, and War (Hardcover)

This is a unique and wonderful book. Dedicated people are working selflessly to stop killing all over the world. Some great people are fighting the death penalty, peace activists are struggling to stop war, others work to expose torture and end it, many know that poverty is a killer and work to end it, others oppose abortion and euthanasia.
This book tells of the people and movements that oppose all these kinds of killing, in a consistent ethic of respect for life. Supporters of this ethic include anti-death penalty activist Sr. Helen Prejean, and Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel and the Dalai Lama.
This book offers many little known facts and an inspiring vision of diverse activists working together to end killing.
Rose Evans, San Francisco

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Life-Changing Read, May 2, 2009

By 

Matthew - See all my reviews

This review is from: Consistently Opposing Killing: From Abortion to Assisted Suicide, the Death Penalty, and War (Hardcover)

Reading this book was truly a Life-Changing Experience. It forced me to rethink my positions on many issues. I would compare it to first reading the Expounding of the Law in Matthew 5:17-48, where Jesus turns several moral issues upside-down. Consistently Opposing Killing, like Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, boldly challenges the status-quo by being consistently for life and consistently against death. It has forced me to think about issues that were uncomfortable to confront. By showing that both liberals and conservatives have equally betrayed the Sanctity of Life, this book offers a radical alternative to any common ideological philosophy.

I now oppose all forms of killing: War, Capital Punishment, Abortion, Euthanasia, Poverty and Racism. I also realized that violence against animals is wrong, and have since become a vegetarian.

If you have ever struggled with trying to consistently and completely obey the teachings of Jesus, then you need to read this book. I now believe that the Consistent Life Ethic is the only moral doctrine that is compatible with the words and actions of Jesus in the Gospels. If you want to come closer to the teachings of Early Christianity, then I hope you will find Consistently Opposing Killing!