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Build a Bigger Tent: The Pro-Life Agenda and Death

January 9th, 2007 | 6 min read

By Matthew Lee Anderson

The following essay is my submission to the Blogs4Life Online Symposium. It is perhaps unconventional in tone for a Symposium of this sort. It is certainly "off the point" somewhat, as I present what might be construed as a specifically Christian approach to the first question(as evidenced by my use of Scripture), which reads:

Defining our Movement: Redefining “Pro-Life” for the 21st Century

Over the past thirty years the term “pro-life” has often been almost completely associated with the issue of abortion. How can we use weblog technology to argue for a more robust definition that includes opposition in such areas as euthanasia, assisted suicide, and embryo destructive research? Also, where do we draw the between essential, nonnegotiable elements (e.g., opposition to abortion) and matters on which disagreements and differences of opinion should be respected allowed (for example, IVF or capital punishment)?

I would encourage Mere O readers (and those in the Symposium who are interested) to offer feedback. My apologies to FRC and Blogs4Life for not playing within their terms, but old habits die hard: at Oxford, I was told to make an interesting paper out of the question given, so that is what I have attempted. My thoughts are tentative at best, and consequently still blurry. I birthed the child prematurely (as it were), yet thought it still worth carrying forward. Without further ado, then, my thoughts:

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Matthew Lee Anderson

Matthew Lee Anderson is an Associate Professor of Ethics and Theology in Baylor University's Honors College. He has a D.Phil. in Christian Ethics from Oxford University, and is a Perpetual Member of Biola University's Torrey Honors College. In 2005, he founded Mere Orthodoxy.