tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33469604822537512572011-04-21T16:43:06.822-07:00nujehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15435232493733221252noreply@blogger.comBlogger11100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3346960482253751257.post-11469752917719090182008-10-03T07:03:00.001-07:002008-10-03T07:04:27.900-07:00Fr. Frank Pavone, Priests for Life<br /><br />-----------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Before the schoolyard bully beats up his victim, he<br />calls him names. This is a way to dehumanize the<br />victim, and therefore make it easier to justify<br />attacking him.<br /><br />In this verse from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus<br />says that using dehumanizing language is sinful.<br />"Raca" was an Aramaic term of contempt. The respect<br />and love we are called to have for other human lives<br />is not limited to action alone; it also has to<br />manifest itself in language.<br /><br />Professor William Brennan, in his book Dehumanizing<br />the Vulnerable: When Word Games Take Lives, traces<br />the dehumanizing language used to oppress various<br />groups of people in history, such as our<br />African-American brothers and sisters, or our Jewish<br />brothers and sisters in the Holocaust.<br /><br />He then shows that the same kind of dehumanizing<br />language is used against the unborn, who have been<br />called "parasites," "tissue," and "medical waste,"<br />among other things.<br /><br />What are we to do instead? We are to affirm one<br />another, including the unborn, with ennobling<br />language that inspires respect and love. The unborn<br />are precious children, they are our brothers and<br />sisters, they are the image of God. Let us multiply<br />the language of affirmation, as we hasten to the day<br />of their protection!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3346960482253751257-1146975291771909018?l=itisyourchoice.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>nujehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15435232493733221252noreply@blogger.com0