The consistent life ethic, or the consistent ethic of life, was a term coined in 1983 by Joseph Bernardin to express an ethical, religious, and political ideology based on the premise that all human life is sacred and should be protected by law. The ideology opposes abortion, capital punishment, assisted suicide, economic injustice, and euthanasia. Adherents are opposed, at the very least, to unjust war, while some adherents also profess pacifism, or opposition to all war.
Famous quotes containing the words consistent, life and/or ethic:
“Freedom in art, freedom in society, this is the double goal towards which all consistent and logical minds must strive.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“I have given the best of myself and the best work of my life to help obtain political freedom for women, knowing that upon this rests the hope not only of the freedom of men but of the onward civilization of the world.”
—Mary S. Anthony (1827–1907)
“I’m a Sunday School teacher, and I’ve always known that the structure of law is founded on the Christian ethic that you shall love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself—a very high and perfect standard. We all know the fallibility of man, and the contentions in society, as described by Reinhold Niebuhr and many others, don’t permit us to achieve perfection.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)