This page provides a recent reflection on an aspect of faith and culture. Responding to current events, issues in the news and in politics we aim to provide some considered thoughts on how our faith impinges on the world around us and the reverse.

NEWS! www.thinkingfaith.org:the online journal of the British Jesuits, covering a broad spectrum of cultural issues from a catholic perspective.

March 2008

Legislating for a Culture of Life

The Human Fertilsation and Embryology (HFE) bill is increasingly on the agenda of both the Catholic and Secular Press, and it raises many questions. The bill will potentially legislate for the creation of animal-human hybrid embryos; the creation of saviour siblings, who will be selected for birth because their tissue type means they are a potential doner; greater availability of screening embryos, with a view to termination; and the denial to children born through IVF, of knowledge of their biological Father. In addition, pro-abortion lobbyists are using this bill to seek further liberalisation of existing abortion laws.

Ps 139 says ‘For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.’

At the heart of the good news is the message that we are created in love, and that in Jesus we can know that love today. This message is overtly undermined by this bill, the effect of which could be devastating in terms of the value placed on human life in the UK. As MP Geraldine Smith has said ‘Just because something is scientifically possible, it does not make it right…Life is not a fashion accessory.’ On the contrary, life is a gift from God, our loving creator.

In Evangelli Nuntiandi, Pope Paul VI clearly called for the evangelisation for culture, saying ‘what matters is to evangelize man's culture and cultures…in a vital way, in depth and right to their very roots…always coming back to the relationships of people among themselves and with God….(cultures) have to be regenerated by an encounter with the Gospel. But this encounter will not take place if the Gospel is not proclaimed.’ (Evangelli Nuntiandi: 20).

Many Catholics and Christians in Parliament are in the midst of a daily struggle at the moment, to ensure that a voice proclaiming the sanctity of life is heard.

For more information, see:

Christian Concern for Our Nation

You tube: Passion for Life video

Passion for Life Tour details