Parishes should promote the right to life, religious freedom and education for all
Christians must educate their children that all abortions go against moral law. (Photo: Unsplash)
One of the crucial factors that support and promote integral human development is to work together to live with human dignity. It means that Christians need to safeguard the rights to life, freedom and education in society.
Humans are the image of God and their bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. They are called to live in communion with him and are capable of listening and responding to his word.
People’s dignity in God’s eyes is basic to their dignity in the eyes of human beings. This is the foundation of genuine equality and brotherhood among all people, regardless of their race, nationality, sex, origin, culture or social class.
This is the reason why no one can use others as objects. All people must be respected and treated as a true person with full dignity and freedom. At the same time, they must bear responsibility for themselves, their own choices and behavior.
It is due to people’s dignity before God that they have the right and duty to respect and love themselves. Therefore, we must consider how valuable we are and take responsibility for our own health. We also have commitments to love other people as ourselves.
To live with human dignity, Christians must study and increase their knowledge of dignity, human persons and God’s dreams of human beings so as to live a better life every day. It is significant to introduce the Church’s social teaching to the world and to help others live with their dignity. We must work together to protect our rights to life, freedom and education.
Depriving the right to life of unborn babies is an awful crime. In many cases, big fetuses are still aborted, leading to the grave risk of death for mothers. So what should we do to prevent this alarming situation?
The right to life is a basic and natural human right. As the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states: “Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.”
Human life is sacred and inviolable since the image of God is reflected on people’s faces. God is the Lord of life, so everyone has the right to life, and their life is respected and defended from the moment of conception in the womb until they depart this life.
One of the crimes against human life is abortion, which is a big worry for many people. Vietnam has some 300,000 abortions per year, mainly among the 15-19 age group, of whom 60-70 percent are students.
Depriving the right to life of unborn babies is an awful crime. In many cases, big fetuses are still aborted, leading to the grave risk of death for mothers. So what should we do to prevent this alarming situation?
First of all, Christians must educate their children that all abortions go against moral law. They have to speak out against abortion in every possible way. Let us show people that abortion is a willful murder, killing their own children. We should spend some time praying for the protection of life and ending abortion.
To check abortion, we should make a contribution to building a society highlighting Christian morals and a culture of love and life to repel the life of immorality and self-indulgence.
All people by nature have freedom of choice and action as they wish, and they must bear total responsibility for their actions. If they abuse their freedom or use freedom to decide to do wrong things, to blindly satisfy instinctive urges, or to be controlled by external pressures, they will lose their freedom and become slaves to their instincts or outside forces. People enjoy true freedom only when they completely turn to God and keep his commandments.
One of the inalienable rights is religious freedom, so all Christians have the right to live freely like God’s children, to practice, profess and proclaim their faith.
Therefore, no political institutions, governments and civil laws are allowed to violate human rights, especially the freedom of faith. Moreover, all of them have to take firm actions to defend and help the people live freely with their dignity.
We should live with dignity and shield freedom in society by helping our brothers and sisters exercise their true freedom to live according to the moral conscience and natural law that God establishes in our souls. The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church states: “Human freedom belongs to us as creatures; it is a freedom which is given as a gift, one to be received like a seed and to be cultivated responsibly. When the contrary is the case, freedom dies, destroying man and society.”
The right to education is both a crucial factor that cements human rights for all individuals and an indispensable condition for the exercise of other rights and assurance of human dignity
Christians have a duty to exercise the right to education and work with other people to provide all people with equal access to education.
Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI said that education is the most interesting and difficult adventure in life. Educating means leading young people to move beyond themselves and introducing them to reality, towards a fullness that leads to growth.
The right to education is both a crucial factor that cements human rights for all individuals and an indispensable condition for the exercise of other rights and assurance of human dignity. The right to access education is also the best means for the marginalized to escape from the poverty trap and integrate with the community.
In society, education is basic to socioeconomic and human development, and a deciding factor in bringing about lasting peace and sustainable development.
Education comes first from the family, so all parents should be wholly responsible for offering their children comprehensive education with all love. They educate children in faith and humanistic ways of life so that children can grow to full maturity.
Parishes should pay much attention to educational activities, especially faith and human education for all members including children and adolescents.
Catholics should take an active part in public education and work with other sectors of society to give everyone authentic education so that they can enjoy life to the full.
They also improve their knowledge of society, cultures, history and human values to develop their holistic personality, bear witness to the Gospel in the world, and lead their children to social charities.
Finally, government authorities must perform their mandatory duty to ensure all people enjoy comprehensive, authentic and practical education that focuses on not only knowledge but integral human development including cultural and religious values.
* Joseph Nguyen Van Trinh holds a master’s degree in psychology and is from Hanoi, Vietnam. He delivered a talk at Hanoi Archdiocese’s pre-synod seminar on justice and peace on June 4. This article was summarized and translated by a UCA News reporter from a Vietnamese article published by tonggiaophanhanoi.org here. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.
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