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Ilie te rm s o f v ir tue e th ics , to ask the q u e s t io n , “W ho
are we and w ho do we wish to be in re la tio n to this issue?1 T o an sw e r tha t
q u e s tio n , we m u s t s tep b ack a n d ask ou rse lves w ho we a re in re la tio n to sex
and ch i ld ren . W h a t k ind o f p eo p le m u s t we be if we are to w e lcom e ch i ld ren
in to th e world?
We regard life as sacred, not because of any perception of an intrinsic
quality of holiness, but because of our particular convictions about God.
God in Jesus Christ is working to redeem the lives of human persons, lives
which are, in the first place, his creation. It is this creative and redemptive
work of God which makes the life of a human person sacred, not some spe
cial quality of life as such. . . .
But Hauerwas says our character in relation to abortion goes further than
a commitment to life as created and redeemed by God. God ’s redemptive
activity is historic, working through an historic community. As Christians we
are historic people with a stake in the continuity of our community. As such,
we raise children as a symbol (not the object!) of hope. We hope and trust in
a God who will continue to create and redeem a people for himself. By rais
ing children we express our confidence that God continues to welcome men
and women into his kingdom.
Looking at the history of the Church we find good reason to value the
raising of children. The emphasis on singleness in the early Church, far from
devaluing marriage as simply the natural state of affairs, indicates that mar
riage and the raising of children, like singleness, is a vocation. Those who
marry do so as people called by God to express the truth of the story of God ’s
redemption in Jesus Christ in a particular way, by bringing into life new peo
ple whom God may also call to be a part of the ongoing story of the people
of Jesus.
Thus, “Christians are trained to be the kind of people who are ready to
receive and welcome children into the world. . . . It is, of course, true that
children will often be conceived and born under conditions that are less than
ideal . . . that is all the more reason we must be the kind of people that can
receive children into our midst.”9As Christians, we simply “abandon society
to its own limits” if our voice in the debate does not carry our own particular
convictions as Christians. Moreover, as the community which embodies
those convictions in our own story, our life as a people ready to welcome
children is a constant challenge to the life of society.
People of Virtue
It is my hope that w7hat I have shared here communicates the essence of
an ethical position which has impressed me as a stimulating and refreshing
9. Ibid., 227.