Richard Neuhaus on Abortion

Yesterday before I did the Bible Answer Man Broadcast, the associate editor of the Christian Research Journal, Wayne Mayhall, alerted me by email to the passing of Richard John Neuhaus.

Wayne wrote in his email, “What a great man and great writer was Richard Neuhaus. His powerful and poignant pen will be sorely missed in the ongoing struggles between the feuding cultures of life and death.” Wayne then included in the email one of Neuhaus’ speeches, it was given just last year (2008) as the closing address at the National Right to Life Committee in Arlington, VA.

I’m tempted to provide the whole address here, as it is that powerful; however, I will include only a few selections of it below for the sake of space. If you want to read the whole address, and I encourage you to do so, please see it at this link on the National Right to Life Website ((http://www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/July08/nv071408Part3.html). Richard Neuhaus said,

…We contend, and we contend relentlessly, for the dignity of the human person, of every human person, created in the image and likeness of God, destined from eternity for eternity—every human person, no matter how weak or how strong, no matter how young or how old, no matter how productive or how burdensome, no matter how welcome or how inconvenient. Nobody is a nobody; nobody is unwanted. All are wanted by God, and therefore to be respected, protected, and cherished by us…

We shall not weary, we shall not rest, as we stand guard at the entrance gates and the exit gates of life, and at every step along way of life, bearing witness in word and deed to the dignity of the human person—of every human person.

Against the encroaching shadows of the culture of death, against forces commanding immense power and wealth, against the perverse doctrine that a woman’s dignity depends upon her right to destroy her child, against what St. Paul calls the principalities and powers of the present time…

It has been a long journey, and there are still miles and miles to go. Some say it started with the notorious Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 when, by what Justice Byron White called an act of raw judicial power, the Supreme Court wiped from the books of all fifty states every law protecting the unborn child. But it goes back long before that. Some say it started with the agitation for “liberalized abortion law” in the 1960s when the novel doctrine was proposed that a woman cannot be fulfilled unless she has the right to destroy her child. But it goes back long before that. It goes back to the movements for eugenics and racial and ideological cleansing of the last century…

The contention between the culture of life and the culture of death is not a battle of our own choosing. We are not the ones who imposed upon the nation the lethal logic that human beings have no rights we are bound to respect if they are too small, too weak, too dependent, too burdensome. That lethal logic, backed by the force of law, was imposed by an arrogant elite that for almost forty years has been telling us to get over it, to get used to it. But “We the People,” who are the political sovereign in this constitutional democracy, have not gotten over it, we have not gotten used to it, and we will never, we will never ever, agree that the culture of death is the unchangeable law of the land…

We do not know, we do not need to know, how the battle for the dignity of the human person will be resolved. God knows, and that is enough. As Mother Teresa of Calcutta and saints beyond numbering have taught us, our task is not to be successful but to be faithful…

Richard Neuhaus has gone to this final resting place after succumbing to cancer at age 72. Now we are left to carry on the fight for the millions whose blood yet cries out from the soil stained by the blood of the most innocent among us. If we fall on this issue, we will fall on any issue. This is the very issue if you look at the Roman Empire that had a great impact on its demise. We must stand on this issue. Our brother has gone home to be with the Lord we need to be faithful and vigilant. That means that you need to able to communicate what you believe and why you believe on the subject of life and death. For many free downloadable articles and recommendations for books please see our Website section on Abortion under the Need Answers Link.