I am interested in a discussion on this topic. My understanding is that Orthodoxy teaches that human life has value because each human being is to some degree an icon of God.
If this is true then our value is not connected to either our abilities or our actions. For this reason, we can say clearly that it is wrong to end the life of, for instance, a disabled person such as Terri Schiavo in the same way as it is wrong to abort the unborn child, their value was and is not dependent upon their ability to contribute or function. I feel sure that we will all agree to at least this much.
Where the question may get more complex though is in the issue of the death penalty for criminals. For those of you who do not reject the death penalty how does such a view tie in with the idea that our value is inherently connected to the fact that man is, however imperfectly, an icon of God?
I can accept that where there is no facility to imprison it may be necessary, as a consequence of our existence in a creation still fallen, to execute those who are an active danger to others, just as a policeman may be justified in shooting an armed suspect who is targetting others, but in modern developed society where imprisonment is certainly an option, on what basis can the death penalty be said to be moral?
If this is true then our value is not connected to either our abilities or our actions. For this reason, we can say clearly that it is wrong to end the life of, for instance, a disabled person such as Terri Schiavo in the same way as it is wrong to abort the unborn child, their value was and is not dependent upon their ability to contribute or function. I feel sure that we will all agree to at least this much.
Where the question may get more complex though is in the issue of the death penalty for criminals. For those of you who do not reject the death penalty how does such a view tie in with the idea that our value is inherently connected to the fact that man is, however imperfectly, an icon of God?
I can accept that where there is no facility to imprison it may be necessary, as a consequence of our existence in a creation still fallen, to execute those who are an active danger to others, just as a policeman may be justified in shooting an armed suspect who is targetting others, but in modern developed society where imprisonment is certainly an option, on what basis can the death penalty be said to be moral?
