Historical Amnesia, Beglium’s New Euthanasia Laws, and Imago Dei

Today modern feminists and secularists are quick to criticize Western Civilization and Christianity for instituting “oppressive misogynistic institutions” like marriage and Christianity.

But what does their non-Christian Eden or mythical “state of nature” look like in history?

Would they go to the sexually free pre-Christian Roman Empire where infanticide was common and the slaughter of humans was popular entertainment? Would they go Sparta where infants and children who couldn’t pass a stringent fitness test were thrown off of a cliff? Would they go to the Aztec Empire where human sacrifice and cannibalism were common? Or Would they go back just a few decades to the 20th century century where over 100 million people where killed by the regimes of secular dictators? 

Moral relativism doesn’t look so cheery when faced with historical facts illustrating the inhumane nature of societies that do not acknowledge human dignity. In most of these civilizations abortion/infanticide was rampant, as was euthanasia, suicide, and contraception.

Western Civilization stands alone as a civilization that can claim a long history of protecting the dignity of human life. This practice stems from the Judeo-Christian anthropological belief that human beings are created in the image of God, and are thus intrinsically valuable and gifted with an immaterial, immortal soul capable of reason and free will. When we trade this belief for the soulless materialist definition of a person, we accept a philosophy that undermines the dignity of the person.

Recently, Belgium lifted any age limit on euthanasia. This follows the Netherlands’ decision to legalize euthanasia for children over the age of twelve. According to Canada’s Medical Association Journal’s recent study, “The number of euthanasia deaths in Belgium is skyrocketing with an increase of 25% in 2012. Recent studies indicate that up to 47% of all assisted deaths are not being reported, 32% of all assisted deaths are being done without request and nurses are killing their patients, even though the law restricts euthanasia to doctors.”

More and more cases like this will appear if we continue to affirm that morals and cultures are relative and that the law has no moral meaning. Our culture’s large case of historical amnesia has caused us to forget the Judeo-Christian roots that lie at the heart of our notion of human dignity. We can not accept the modern claim that untethering ourselves from the muddied waters of our Christian past will somehow free us to a better world. The Judeo-Christian anthropological view of the human person is essential to keep culture, conservatism, and history intact.