The Task of Theological Humanism
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being destroyed. We see the suffering caused by the destruction of life, and we undertake to cultivate compassion and use it as a source of energy for the protection of people, animals, plants, and minerals. The First Precept is a pre-cept of compassion, karuna – the ability to remove suffering and transform it. When we see suffering, compassion is born in us. 20
In the Western ear this passage harkens back both to Albert Schweitzer’s argument for an ethics of a reverence for life, and also to many themes in Christian faith about the care for life as created by God and redeemed by Christ. Some concern, compassion, or reverence for life is widespread in the
religions and among peoples of the world. How one values life – and what life is valued – orients other decisions, say about cloning or genetic testing.selves to actions, relations, and policies that respect and enhance life, is The claim that life has a special worth, that we ought to dedicate our-
precisely what is now being debated, even at the level of fundamental attitudes. Pope John Paul II talked about affirming life in a culture of death – a Other thinkers talk about the need to affirm “deep ecology,” that is, seeing culture of war, devaluation of the aged, euthanasia, and abortion.
how ecosystems are valuable. Peter Singer, we know, insists on “unsancti-fying human life.” As he notes, “we are going through a period of transition in our attitude towards the sanctity of human life.”policy of euthanasia, especially of the old, the possible justification of infan- (^21) He argues for an open
ticide, and a denial of any morally decisive difference between human beings and non-human forms of life. What matters is the relief of suffering in sentient beings. Similarly, there are discussions among theorists of various sorts on “cyborg existence,” the melding of the human and the machine,
creation of virtual life, debates about computer intelligence and forms of life – both in the lab and in popular TV programs like challenge is not only technical or procedural or global, but also is how we understand and evaluate the “worth” of life. How one responds Star Trek. The deepest evaluative: i t
to this third challenge shapes more specific discussions about the goods of natural life.There is, first, the difference between value (or worth) and price. To speak of One needs clarity about the idea of value when one says that life has value.
something having ledged and respected in and of itself without reference to other ends or purposes it might serve. I say, for instance, that my son has worth and by this I mean that he is to be acknowledged and respected for what he is and not moral worth or moral value means that it is to be acknow-
because he might make a lot of money or be a good citizen or a fine doctor. For theological humanists, the idea of the integrity of life denotes the source