Culture of Life Compared to the Cultures of Death

by Thomas A. Stobie, SFO

Prelude

This webpage compares the Culture of Life with various Cultures of Death existing today in the world.

Culture of Life vs. the Cultures of Death
Aspect	Culture of Life	Cultures of Death
		Culture of Hedonism	Culture of Radical Elitism	Culture of Consumerism
Focus	Valuing Human Life.	Seeking Pleasure First.	Advancing a class* of people at the expense of other classes. Elite class varies by group.	Consumers: Having Things. Providers: Making a Quick Profit.
Nature of Truth	Objective	Subjective	varies	Subjective
Values	Human life is to be respected and protected from conception to natural death. See the 100% Pro-life webpage for more specific details.	Immediate Pleasure is to be sought out. Anything that can be got away with is permissible. Laws should be changed to permit more freedom to seek pleasure. No one should be allowed to declare any pleasaurable actions wrong. Sex anywhere with anyone who consents is ok.	Advancing the cause of the Elite Class is important. Those outside of the elite have limited or no rights.	Consumers: The more I have, the better I am. Consumers: The more I have, the happier I am. (False) Providers: The more profit I can make, the better. Providers: Employees are disposable resources. (False) Providers: Quality can sometimes be sacrificed to enhance profits. Providers: Product Life should not be too long; Disposable Products are good.
Human Rights	All humans have fundamental human rights from conception to natural death.	Humans of Value* have fundamental human rights. Those without value* do not. The definition of value* varies by organization and individuals.	Humans of the Elite class have most of the fundamental human rights. Others do not or only have a subset of the rights of the elite.	Consumers: Rights concern protection from Providers providing poor quality products. Providers: Rights concern what they can legally do (or get away with).
Nature of Love	Sacrificial Love	Lust and using others	varies	Greed
Use of Scriptures	Holistic Approach	Pick Particular Verses (at best) or Ignore	Pick Particular Verses (at best) or Ignore	Ignore
Value of People	People have inherent value.	Value of People is defined by their acts.	People of the elite class have value. Others do not or have lesser value.	Value of People is determined by what they own.
Justifiable Means	Only means that are morally are acceptable.	Any means that achieve the desired goal.	varies, but most means permitted against the non-elite.	Any means that achieve the desired goal.
Depth of View	Long-Term	Immediate to Short Term	varies	Immediate to Short Term
Use of Wordsmithing	not used	commonly used to deceive the masses to get them to help advance goals.	varies	commonly used to sell products and convince consumers of need (need is usually non-existant).
Major Pitfalls	- None -	Inability to have deep relationships. Abusive Behavior towards others. The Using of other people for personal gratisfaction. Broken Families. Short Term Pleasure does not bring true happiness. When things got tough, people leave and go elsewhere. Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Long-term adverse health effects, particularly among women. Increased Difficulties with future pregnancies. Unwanted children. Alcohol Abuse. Increased Depression and Suicide. Increased Illegal Drug Use and Abuse. Increased Crime. Removal of God from Public areas and education. Teaching of Hedonism in many public schools. Moral decline of society. Religous discrimination by society. Corrupt government officials. Elimination of those deemed without value. Leads many people to hell.	Misguided individuals destroying their lives and hurting others. Excessive Violence. Terrorism. Slavery. Ruling by Fear. Hatred consumes lives. Religous persecution. Leads many people to hell.	Consumers: Consumer Debt can cripple families. Goods do not bring true happiness. Values things more than people. Encourages the using of other people to acquire what it wanted. Spoils many children. Poor Family Values. Increased White Collar Crime. Loss of true perspective. Leads many people to hell. Providers: Lack strategic thinking for good long term growth. Give in to what is popular rather than what is best. Ruthless corporate politics. Encourages unethical organizational behavior. (See thoughts on corporate responsibility.) Greedy Labor Unions. Society: Money rather than public good dominates politics. Focuses attention on the acquisition of goods. Moral decline of society. Excessive Lawsuits. Injustice - Preferential treatment of the wealthy. Corrupt government officials. Starvation in parts of the world. Extreme poverty in parts of the world.
Human Casualities	None* People have died from people claiming to act for pro-life organizations, but these acts are against the philosophies of pro-life.	over 1 Billion dead Billions adversely affected.	over 100 Million dead Billions adversely affected.	over 1 Million dead Billions adversely affected.
Excessism	As an integrated whole the culture of life is always good, but when aspects are taken to excess at the expense of other aspects, some acts can become evil.	Pleasure in itself is not necessarily evil, but when taken to excess or overprioritzed it is.	Placing more value towards a specific group may not be evil, but when it denies the basic rights of others it is.	Ownership of property is neither good or evil, rather how the ownership (stewardship) is used should be examined with its effects. Letting the desire for things become an overwhelming desire is evil.
Ultimate Leader	God	Satan	Satan	Satan
Supporting / Example Groups	Catholic Church Orthodox Churches many Protestant Churches many Jewish congregations many Muslim congregations most Pro-life organizations - (some promote only parts of the whole culture of life) conservative parts of the Republican Party (USA) Eternal Word Television Network Vatican City	mainstream American Media most News Media NARAL Planned Parenthood Pro-choice organizations Gay Rights organizations some Christian Churches some clothing manufacturers - (promoting revealing clothing) most of the Rock Music industry mainstream parts of the Democratic Party (USA) parts of the Medical industry some governments or government organizations many public Schools (USA & UK) National Education Association ACLU American Bar Association dissident Christians sex abusers Porn Industry	Terrorist organizations Sudanese government Chinese government many Arab governments many radical Muslim congregations many Pro-choice organizations Nazis Soviet Union Klu Klux Klan	many Corporations mainstream American Media Hip Hop Music Industry Rock Music Industry Planned Parenthood most American Unions most Drug manufacturers Loan Sharks Porn Industry Most advertizing
Comments	In the pro-life movement, they are many who do not realize the full breadth of the culture of life and may not support all aspects of it. In many countries, the culture of life is persecuted in various ways. Pro-life organizations are often targeted as being at fault for the failings of its members, even though what was done goes against the teaching of the organization.	Most Hedonists do not claim to be hedonists, but by their behavior they can be identified. For most hedonists, sexual behavior is a significant source of pleasure and nothing should interfere with this source of pleasure including taking responsibility for the results of their behavior. Government officials who support hedonism (in their actions, usually not specifically by name) deliberately misinterpret laws so they can choose not to enforce them. Judges reinterpret laws to represent their views. Many people support the hedonist agenda, but not seeing through the deceptive wordsmithing used by the hedonists. One quick check on whether someone supports hedonism is the question "Do you support contraceptives?" The major media typically presents hedonism (or major parts of it) as the norm. Organizations that promote hedonism like to target virtuous people and organizations with misleading public assaults. Many hedonists misguidely consider statements against their actions, either specific or in general, as personal assaults on themselves. Hedonists often conceal their hedonistic behavior from others. Often by examing what hedonists accuse those who disagree with them, you will find behaviors that hedonists do.	Most radial elitists do not believe that they are radial or elitists, but by their behavior they can be identified. People outside of the elite often fear to speak out against the elite in fear of violent or government retribution. The radical elite tries to control the media to better deceive the general populace. Often the radical elite targets one or more groups in particular as groups to be eliminated, typically on the basis of religion, nationality or skin color. Some radical elitists will declare that they are opposed to something but target something else. (A good example of this is Al Quaida, who declares that they are opposed to Western Hedonist values, but target Western ecomonic centers.)	Consumers: Many people get lead into consumerism without realizing it. Most people when they realize that they have fallen into consumerism, try to get out of it. People can get in competition with neighbors on having better things. Excessive debt can produce severe hardship for families. Providers: Most Providers get caught into the trap of trying to maximize short-term profits above all things. Products and services are overhyped to persaude consumers to buy what they do not need. Many Providers take advantage of the Hedonism in society to promote their products.
Symbol

Prayer for the Victims of the Culture of Death

Dear God,
Billions have died and billions more have been victimized by the culture of death.

We ask You, God, to bestow your blessings and graces on all the victims of the culture of death and the heal the physical, mental, and spiritual wounds, caused. We ask You for those victims still in purgatory to bestow special blessings on them to help them be cleansed so that they might join You in heaven.

We ask You, God, to touch the hearts of those who embrace the culture of death in any way and to help them realize the truth in what they are doing. Lead them to renounce the culture of death and return to the culture of life. Please accept heartfelt repentances and grant forgiveness.

We ask You, God, to move those who have influence over others to use their influence to embrace life and not to spread to culture of death to more and more victims.

We ask You, God, to strengthen families and make them more resistance to the influence of the culture of death. Help families value what they have and be generous to those in need.

We ask You, God, to embolden government officials, lead them into cleansing society from the culture of death, standing courageously for the truth, and withstanding the pressures of the culture of death. Help governments come to the protect of human life from conception until natural death and to protect and ensure that all people are granted full human rights.

We ask You, God, to guide religious officials into the strong preaching of the truth and values of the culture of life and strong preaching against the snares of the culture of death. Guide religious organizations to always be strong proponents of the culture of life and strong opponents of all aspects of the cultures of death.

We thank You, God, Source of Life, for all You have done for us, for all the blessings You have bestowed.

Amen.

© 2007-2008 by Thomas A. Stobie, SFO - permission to copy for personal use is granted.

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Last modified on 14 Jan 2008.