Origins
Although various authors used the term from time to time, the expression "culture of life" entered popular parlance from Pope John Paul II, who first used it in a World Youth Day tour of the United States in 1993. Speaking to journalists at Stapleton International Airport near Denver, Colorado, the Pope denounced abortion and euthanasia, stating that "The culture of life means respect for nature and protection of God's work of creation. In a special way, it means respect for human life from the first moment of conception until its natural end." Cardinal Bernard Law reiterated the theme, urging Americans to "spread the culture of life over the culture of death."
Beyond Holy Scripture, one possible source for this philosophy is the Didache, a first century Christian document which exposes the doctrine of two ways: the way of life and the way of death. This work is part of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, and Popes often cite it.
The Pope returned to the theme in April 1995 through the encyclical Evangelium Vitae (Gospel of Life):
- In our present social context, marked by a dramatic struggle between the culture of life and the culture of death, there is need to develop a deep critical sense capable of discerning true values and authentic needs.
Some of the issues that are included in the Catholic Church's description of the culture of life include:
- Opposition to abortion
- Opposition to human sterilization
- Opposition to human cloning
- Opposition to contraception
- Opposition to human embryonic stem cell and fetal research, coupled with support for adult stem cell research
- Opposition to euthanasia
- Opposition to murder and suicide
- Opposition to capital punishment
- Opposition to unjust war
- Promotion of agape love and charity
- Promotion of matrimony, maternity, fatherhood, life, chastity, fidelity, and virtue
- Promotion of organ donation
Read more about this topic: Culture Of Life
Famous quotes containing the word origins:
“The settlement of America had its origins in the unsettlement of Europe. America came into existence when the European was already so distant from the ancient ideas and ways of his birthplace that the whole span of the Atlantic did not widen the gulf.”
—Lewis Mumford (1895–1990)
“The origins of clothing are not practical. They are mystical and erotic. The primitive man in the wolf-pelt was not keeping dry; he was saying: “Look what I killed. Aren’t I the best?””
—Katharine Hamnett (b. 1948)
“Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.”
—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)