By Judie Brown
A vulture is a predator, but the kind of evil vulture we speak of here is the human being who markets death—including assisted suicide—as a goal to be coveted. And sadly, too many have fallen for that lie.
In a Live Action article, we read:
“A recent peer-reviewed article in the Journal of Ethics in Mental Health has revealed that the legalization of euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide does not cause a decline in suicide and ‘intentional self-initiated death’ as euthanasia proponents claim, but is instead related to a ‘significant increase in total suicide.’”
The reasons for this are rooted in a growing national sentiment that death for the most vulnerable in our midst is worthy of protection under the law. This is the message we receive from the media and elsewhere, including too many members of the medical profession.
In a November 2021 article, the Economist opined: “In the West, assisted dying is rapidly becoming legal and accepted.” So even though there are those who would tell us that decriminalizing euthanasia is similar to opening Pandora’s Box, these very same people see no connection among the deadly practices of contraception, abortion, and every type of euthanasia. They do not see that any law or public policy that enables another to kill himself or a third party is a murderous path to hell.
The real problem is that, for most Americans, the equation of contraception, abortion, or euthanasia with violence against another isn’t a consideration. After all, for nearly 60 years the public has been deceived about how the pill works, what an abortion does to someone, or why compassion for the ill or elderly is not euthanasia but rather loving care. Such deadly opinions have become commonplace.
That’s why, today, these various acts are viewed as part of the status quo. Nobody gets upset about them, and other than heroic pro-life citizens, few strive to put an end to them. But after so many years, it is time to ask this question: “Has the pro-life effort to educate the public failed, or is it rather a problem of a culture of death controlling the main avenues for learning, such as education and the media?”
I think we all know the answer to that.
Our challenge is to defeat the culture of death at its own game by taking steps using social media and other forms of communication to educate. We are not talking about reinventing the basic educational facts about what is wrong with imposed death or what it looks like but rather rethinking how to make the message resonate among the apathetic.
St. Teresa of Calcutta knew this, which is why she said at a National Prayer Breakfast many years ago:
“I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?”
Exactly! This war against the innocent and the vulnerable has already taken more lives than anyone can calculate. This tragic situation continues and escalates even now. With every death, more hearts and minds are captured in this web of deceit. This is why average folks like you and me are called to step in and yell STOP!
We do this not with a loud voice but by simple acts of kindness, such as explaining to others that the preborn child is a person, why it is always wrong to kill a person, and why love will always conquer hate. These are the messages others need to hear, not only from our mouths but through our actions.
The truth never goes out of style. The truth never changes. St. John Paul II knew this. His words should be repeated from every pulpit in every church and in every form of media every day:
Man always has before him the spiritual horizon of hope, thanks to the help of divine grace and with the cooperation of human freedom.
It is in the saving Cross of Jesus, in the gift of the Holy Spirit, in the Sacraments which flow forth from the pierced side of the Redeemer (cf. Jn 19:34), that believers find the grace and the strength always to keep God’s holy law, even amid the gravest of hardships.
The vultures marketing death cannot tolerate the Light of Christ, so let us entrust ourselves to Him and shine that light of hope and love into even the darkest corner.