Crossing lines

"Furthermore, Father Neil," he said peering through the windscreen as if he were gazing at some impossibly hideous futuristic vision, "should the Church ever relax her discipline on celibacy, the whole pack of cards will come tumbling down. Even bishops will be found making exceptions in special cases to birth control and divorce. The good sisters, seeing the laxity of the clergy, will themselves leave their convents like flocks of migrating birds. And in the end, we will have Catholics advocating Euthanasia for babies born handicapped and for old people who are incurably ill or a burden on the community."

A Father before Christmas by Neil Boyd 

Now I am fully aware that this quote is not totally applicable to Anglicans but it is the sentiment of the quote I am looking at. When you change your level of tolerance for something previously considered sinful, where is the line drawn to say we can not go any further. The public relations machine of the CofE is less and less willing to speak out according to it's official teachings in controversial issues. The line keeps slipping further and further back, and seeing the lax attitude the Church is taking to moral issues those outside the Church take an even laxer attitude. We are meant to teach and lead in issues of morality, not proclaim that whatever you believe or want is alright with us. When we do not have a clear teaching, people do not see the need for the Church. 

 We are a broad Church, yes. We should be tolerant, yes. However when we are watching the attitude towards the sanctity of life disintegrate to the levels that abortions are seen as another form of birth control. Society has embraced our laxity on the issue of abortion so much that it has become acceptable to film it and say it is a positive thing to do so.  Euthanasia of adults has become acceptable and Belgium has even voted to allow children the same rights. Where does it stop, at what point do we stop and say we are ending lives more and more freely, this is murder.

It all started with accepting abortion, but the lines have slipped back and back. While I accept there are situations were it could possibly be argued that abortion or euthanasia are necessary. Our teaching should be that each and every life is valuable. We have no right to take a life at any stage. In the womb, as a child or as an adult. Every life is gift from God, a precious fragile gift from God. We should be looking to preserve each and every one. I know we can not go back to not having abortions and euthanasia, as some people will always find a way. We do, however, need to find away of making it less acceptable to take lives so freely.

We should also be looking to preserve the gift of the Church, by giving people a defined teaching. A clear identity of what  our faith means. That having a faith has responsibilities, it has it's rewards to, but we should be up holding our responsibilities. One of those responsibilities is to preserve the sanctity of life, if we do not do so the whole pack of cards will eventually come tumbling down.