Albert Finch said:
As Christians how can we increase our measure of impact on society?
Albert,
This week a friend alerted me to the
Acceptance Speech by Elie Wiesel for his 1986 Nobel Peace Prize. In this speech he stated:
And then I explained to him how naive we were, that the world did know and remain silent. And that is why I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must – at that moment – become the center of the universe (emphasis added).
I found this to be a profound statement, remembering that Elie is a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust. Some of his relatives did not survive. His plea is that all humanity should not remain silent when they see or hear of persecution for race, religion or political views.
On Tuesday of this week I attended a university lecture here in Brisbane on the topic, '
Conscientious objection and ethical pluralism', in which the professor was advocating that those who have values of conscientious objection to abortion, euthanasia or assisted suicide should not be hired in the public hospital system.
After the lecture I spoke with him about his bagging of religion (particularly the RCC in Ireland and Islam in Saudi Arabia) and that his 'ethical pluralism' was not pluralism at all, but censored pluralism because he wants medical doctors who are conscientious objectors to be excluded from the medical profession where these medical procedures are performed.
How can we become involved?
- Become informed on the issues of the culture in which you live;
- Engage in cultural apologetics, which is defending the Christian faith as it impacts on these cultural issues;
- Write letters to the editor;
- Speak up at public events (I took the opportunity to provide feedback online to the university about the imbalance and agenda of the lecture).
We must not be silent. Take a read of R Albert Mohler Jr's book,
We Cannot Be Silent (2015. Nashville, Tennessee: Nelson Books).
Oz