Thinking Carefully about Our Approach with Church Visitors
Discipleship should go far beyond a few weeks of membership classes. Great patience and effort is needed to love our neighbors and help them in honoring their membership vows before Christ. Ministering to those exiting evangelicalism will by no means be an easy endeavor, but it very well may be the unique mission field that Lord is calling us to serve.
What I am about to describe is something I’m quite sure every pastor has experienced at some point in his ministry. A visitor approaches immediately after the service and is ecstatic about what he just heard. “Pastor, that was the best thing I’ve ever heard. I found my new church home. Where do I sign up, and how can I jump in and begin to serve?” Within the next few months, that new visitor is welcomed as member of the church, and everyone is encouraged.
Then, however, seemingly out of nowhere, the new member is gone. The pastor is never consulted, but he is told by another member that the visitor was unhappy with something in the church, usually the friendliness of the people, and they are now seeking another church. Then begins the difficult and time-consuming process of sorting out what went wrong. Blame is placed on the church for her failures and discouragement filters to other members who hear the complaints.
I confess that after almost twenty years of pastoral ministry, I still do not learn lessons very well. After these many years, I should know by now that affirmations like this, significant pastoral time, and immediate responses that demand becoming a member of the church, typically have around a six-month commitment level, and then the silent departure follows.
The real issue, however, is rarely thought through: Did we really love the visitor with patient discipling, or was this a joint effort in personal and ecclesiastical narcissism?
Evangelicalism’s Seeker Problem
A basic internet search on church visitors will produce dozens of articles that address the different categories of approach. I particularly appreciated one website that categorized church goers as: testers, seekers, pleasers, jumpers, and investors. My purpose is not to outline the different types of church seekers, but to think through the larger problem in evangelicalism with regard to those church visitors who are actually seeking a more substantive church.
We see this constantly in Southern California with a frequent stream of visitors to our worship services. Evangelicalism is in a drastic state of decline, and I suspect in the years to come that we will see record numbers of people who are currently involved in a broader evangelical church identify as exvangelical. There are those, however, who are genuinely seeking something more substantive. Reformed churches offer a radical alternative to the theological shallowness of many evangelical churches. Visitors attend, often after hearing someone like RC Sproul on the radio, and they are mind blown.
The problem is that detoxification from evangelicalism is a very long process and transition to a Reformed church is not an easy one for former evangelicals. You can take an evangelical out of evangelicalism, but it’s far more difficult to take evangelicalism out of an evangelical. In other words, we have to appreciate that coming to a Reformed church really is a new kind of “experience” for evangelicals—and living with “experience” is all they’ve known. The Word of God is expositionally expounded, the sacraments are valued, and the community is serious about the Christian faith all in ways often not previously experienced.
The visitor turned new church member initially celebrated receiving the means of grace. This was expressed as the single great reason for their decision to join. Like anything in life, when the glamour wears off, then comes the hard work of commitment. The honeymoon is wonderful, but then comes the necessary work of sacrificial love. Anyone who is married knows this. And the connection is important, there is a direct parallel to commitment in the church as the bride of Christ and that of a husband and wife in marriage itself.
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Fools for Christ
Evangelicals need a Biblical theology of foolishness for our generation that will at once “shame the wise” and declare the truth and promise of the gospel. How should that look for Protestant believers in the twenty-first century? Whatever it looks like, it must embrace the foolishness of the cross to affirm that our faith does not “rest not on human wisdom,” as Paul put it to the Corinthians, “but on the power of God.”
The Power of the Cross to Shame the Wise
The Los Angeles Dodgers recently hosted at their ballpark the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an organization that claims to “raise drag awareness” and increase “understanding of gay spirituality.” This has caused controversy since the men in the organization are flamboyantly anti-Catholic, dress as nuns, and incorporate blasphemy into their “performances.” The Dodgers invited the group to participate in “Pride Night,” but before it took place they disinvited the Sisters in response to online anger on the part of Christian groups and others. The disinvitation prompted what was evidently an even bigger backlash on social media from defenders of the Sisters, which prompted the Dodgers to re-invite the group, and then publicly bestow upon them a “Community Hero Award.”
The Dodgers have reconfirmed it is possible to be craven and sanctimonious at the same time.
Drag Queens are not the only means of challenging moral and social norms in society, or, of problematizing heteronormative bourgeois values, as I would have said had I paid better attention during drag queen story hour. What the left has known and said for quite some time–at least since the 1960s—is that just about any kind of clownishness will do. The clown is a caricature, an exaggeration. His method is to distort some facet of reality to the point of absurdity. Big noses, red lips, oversized feet, effeminate men—does not really matter what is exaggerated. What matters is that you, the viewer, are entertained or captivated or distracted. Playing the fool means not fitting in, usually in a spectacular way.
But clowning is about more than mocking the clown. Foolishness can be a means of persuasion, too. In this case, the real joke is not on the fools, but on the people laughing at them. An effective clown prompts you to ponder the world in a different light, imagine another way, maybe even another world, and to come to see your own position as more strange or arbitrary or absurd than you previously thought. Court jesters, parodists, and drag queens have known this as long as they have been around. Embracing one’s own foolishness in the eyes of the majority is a powerful, and potentially revolutionary tool.
This is where Evangelical Christians have something to learn from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Foolishness delivers a message to the ones who laugh; it is a tool of persuasion wielded by outliers in society. After generations of occupying one kind of moral majority or another, Evangelicals have forgotten how to embrace and defend the “foolishness” of our own faith. We have spent the past few decades trying to appease the scoffers. The result is that our resolve to stand for truth is weakened in a world hostile to us. We need to recover the art of godly foolishness, an ancient and venerable means of speaking truth, and one that will inoculate us against the inevitable disdain of the world.
Revolutionary Potential of the Fool
In the 1960s, the radical left incorporated clownishness into its repertoire as a matter of course. Reading about it is quite refreshing, honestly, given how humorless and dour so much of the left can often be. Marx was never known for his knock-knock jokes. In recent years, the left’s resentment toward humor has been on full display. The banning of The Babylon Bee from Twitter for mocking left-wing pieties should have been a Babylon Bee gag, not an actual news story.
There was a period, however, during which this was not the case. In 1968, for instance, the left-wing radicals who called themselves Yippies nominated a 150-pound pig named “Pigasus the Immortal” to run for President against Richard Nixon. They were arrested at the campaign launch in Chicago, and charged with bringing livestock into the city. When asked why they nominated a pig for the presidency, one of them explained it was “because if we can’t have him in the White House, we can at least have him for breakfast.” This is fine political satire, suggesting that the potential bacon value of your candidate outweighs the policy value of your opponent. Surely there were a few Republicans that gave a chuckle at the time, even if they deplored the Yippies.
The 1960s and 70s superstar Marxist intellectual and father of the New Left, Herbert Marcuse was completely onboard with this kind of clownishness. Marcuse explained in his jargony though wildly popular writing (every academic’s dream) how all the goofiness amounted to oppositional political action. For instance, he wrote in 1969 that “in some sectors of the opposition the radical protest tends to become antinomian, anarchistic, and even non-political. Here is another reason why the rebellion often takes on the weird and clownish forms which get on the nerves of the Establishment.” This comes from his Essay on Liberation, a title more ironic than “Pigasus the Immortal.”
Marcuse understood the revolutionary potential of the fool, who, by the way, does not have to be as offensive as the drag queen nuns of L.A. to be effective; I suspect that not all drag story hour readers are twerking in the library. They do not have to in order to achieve their goal, which is, according to the nonprofit “Drag Story Hour,” that kids “see people who defy rigid gender restrictions and imagine a world where everyone can be their authentic selves.” This group started in 2015 in San Francisco to shepherd this “global phenomenon” into the next generation; it understands that the defiance of gender restrictions opens the door for imagining a new world. Deconstruct to reconstruct.
It is important here not to get tempted by the pablum of “authentic selves” into thinking this is innocuous. It sounds innocuous, but there is a difference between innocuous and vacuous. The first is unthreatening, by definition, whereas the second is empty and therefore fillable with whatever one wants to fill it with. Vacuous social justice cliches are the Trojan Horses of the movement. Inside the call to “imagine a world” is the moral sanction to deconstruct the world as it is. Inside the phrase “authentic selves” dwells the doctrine of human sovereignty over human nature. This is the logic of utopia: you deconstruct the “structures of power” as they exist, and in the vacuum install a new king. Or drag queen.
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2023 Bible Reading Plans
There are only 52 Lord’s Day a year to preach, and in our historic congregation at Sharon Reformed Presbyterian Church, the longstanding practice is lectio continua. Preaching book by book, chapter by chapter, pericope by pericope gives God’s people stability. However, once a year this pattern changes… on January 1st, 2023. God’s people will be pointed to the Bible Reading Plans we’ve curated and developed for them.
The first Lord’s Day of each year we preach on the primacy of God’s word and the blessings of reading the Scriptures. That will happen again on January 1st, 2023. God’s people will be pointed to the Bible Reading Plans we’ve curated and developed for them.
Some plans will challenge and stretch Christians to spend vast amounts of time in God’s word. Other plans will fit into the busy packed schedule of work and child rearing.
Get the Bible reading plan that fits your life and schedule.
“I will meditate on Your precepts,And contemplate Your ways.I will delight myself in Your statues;I will not forget Your word.”
Some Advice On Bible Reading Plans
Don’t bite off more than you can chew. If you’re on this page it means you want to challenge yourself this year. That’s great! But, maybe you didn’t finish your plans in previous years. That’s okay. The goal is not to check boxes off our to-do list but to bury God’s word in our hearts. Don’t get discouraged. Every time we open God’s word He is using it – He will not allow His word to return void.
So here’s some tips for accomplishing your 2023 Bible Reading Plan:Pick a realistic plan
Pick a plan that fits you – take into account your personality, time, and life circumstances
Devote a time each day to when and where you’ll read – seriously you might need to put it on your calendar
Summarize what you’ve just read
Pick an accountability partner who can encourage you (and you them!)Below you’ll find a compiled list of 2023 Bible Reading Plans. They are not listed in any specific order, but we pray you’ll find this list helpful as you search for this year’s plan.
May God bless you this year as you read and meditate upon His word!
List of 2023 Bible Reading Plans
Morning & Evening Bible Reading Plan
I LOVE this Bible Reading plan. In fact this is the plan I used my first time going through the Bible. You read a larger chunk of the Old Testament in the Mornings and a smaller portion in the Evenings. Breaking up the readings makes the plan accomplishable. You start your day in God’s redemptive plans in the past and end your day with Jesus. I highly recommend this plan.
Duration: 1 Year — Amount: Whole Bible | Download the PDF
5 Day Bible Reading Plan
“The Five Day Bible Reading Schedule’s secret is that you only have to read five times a week, not every day. This allows time for catching up, taking a day off, read other parts of the Bible to prepare for Bible class, etc. Read the entire Bible or just the New Testament – it’s your choice and it is easier than ever to accomplish!”
Duration: 1 Year — Amount: Whole Bible | Download the PDF
Professor Grant Horner’s Reading Plan
This plan is unlike any other. If you really want to read broadly and get contextualization then this is your plan! It it not for the faint hearted but those who want to be deeply watered. Each day consists of 10 chapters in various genres of the Bible. Every year you’ll read through all of the Gospels four times, the Pentateuch twice, Paul’s letters 4-5 times each, the OT wisdom literature six times, all the Psalms at least twice, all the Proverbs as well as Acts a dozen times, and all the way through the OT History and Prophetic books about 1 1⁄2 times!
Duration: 1 Year — Amount: Whole Bible | Download the PDF
52 week Bible Reading plan
This plan will take you through a different genre of the Bible each day. Sunday – Epistle, Monday – Law, Tuesday – History, Wednesday – Psalms, Thursday – Poetry, Friday – Prophecy, Saturday – Gospels. This plan is really helpful if you have gotten bogged down before by having to read through books like Numbers or Isaiah in large chunks before. The plans strength is that it will give you something fresh to read each day of the week. However, that is also one of the weaknesses. By reading something a week ago you might not make connections with previous chapters in context as easily.
Duration: 1 Year — Amount: Whole Bible | Download the PDF
5x5x5 New Testament Bible Reading Plan
This plan comes from the Navigators with this helpful instruction:
5 minutes a day | If you’re not currently reading the Bible, start with 5 minutes a day. This reading plan will take you through all 260 chapters of the New Testament, one chapter per day. The gospels are read throughout the year to keep the story of Jesus fresh all year.
5 days a week | Determine a time and location to spend 5 minutes a day for 5 days a week. It is best to have a consistent time and a quiet place where you can regularly meet with the Lord.
5 ways to dig deeper | We must pause in our reading to dig into the Bible. Below are 5 different ways to dig deeper each day. These exercises will encourage meditation. We recommend trying a single idea for a week to find what works best for you. Remember to keep a pen and paper ready to capture God’s insights.
Underline or highlight key words or phrases in the Bible passage. Use a pen or highlighter to mark new discoveries from the text. Periodically review your markings to see what God is teaching you.Put it into your own words. Read the passage or verse slowly, then rewrite each phrase or sentence using your own words.Ask and answer some questions. Questions unlock new discoveries and meanings. Ask questions about the passage using these words: who, what, why, when, where, or how. Jot down some thoughts on how you would answer these questions.Capture the big idea. God’s Word communicates big ideas. Periodically ask, What’s the big idea in this sentence, paragraph, or chapter?Personalize the meaning. When God speaks to us through the Scriptures, we must respond. A helpful habit is personalizing the Bible through application. Ask: How could my life be different today as I respond to what I’m reading?
Duration: 1 Year — Amount: New Testament | Download the PDF
Weekday Bible Reading Plan
This is a wonderful plan that gives you flexibility on the weekends. Monday through Friday you’ll read portions of the Scriptures. Yet, the plan gives you flexibility to take the weekends off or use them to catch up.
Duration: 1 Year — Amount: Whole Bible | Download the PDF
Bible Reading Chart
Don’t want to be tied down to a certain number of chapters per day? This is a helpful chart to check off the list as you go.
Duration: 1 Year — Amount: Whole Bible | Download the PDF
Chronological Bible Reading Plan
Maybe you’ve read through the Bible before and have wondered when the Psalms would have been written. Or wished that you knew how Hezekiah & Isaiah went together. How did the minor prophets fit into the story of the Bible. This is a really helpful Bible reading plan for those who are curious. Just a warning this plan has many who have LOVED it and many who have not.
Duration: 1 Year — Amount: Whole Bible | Download the PDF
Discipleship Bible Reading Plan
A little disclaimer – I love this plan. The Navigators have done a wonderful job of creating a plan that balances keeping context without getting too bogged down in one genre. That does mean you’ll be reading through large chunks of the Prophets and the Psalmist. It takes disciple to get through this one but many have found it very helpful.
Duration: 1 Year — Amount: Whole Bible | Download the PDF
3 Year Bible Reading Plan
Take your time – soak it up. Not one to rush through your reading. Do you hit the Psalms and want to just slow down? This a very helpful plan to get you through the Bible in 3 years by reading 1 chapter each day. Here’s what the creators say about it:
This plan will take you completely through the Bible, reading every word. Rather than taking only a year for this project, which requires 3 chapters to read every day. That can be too much, unrealistic, and discouraging for some. In this plan you get to read one chapter a day. (Short chapters have been combined, so sometimes you’ll read two.)
Duration: 3 Years — Amount: Whole Bible | Download the PDF
2 Years through the Bible
Think you can go quicker than 3 years? Great! Here’s a great plan for 2 years. It also has days built in to catch up which can be very helpful.
Duration: 2 Years — Amount: Whole Bible | Download the PDF
M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
McCheyne’s plan is a classic for a reason. If you would like to include your entire family in your Bible reading this is a very helpful resource. You can read part by yourself in your devotions and then in the morning and evening read other portions with your family. It is amazing how often this plan has readings that correspond to one another.
Duration: 1 Year — Amount: Whole Bible | Download the PDF
Straight Through the Bible Plan
This is a really easy philosophy. Take up the book and read. Start at Genesis and end at Revelation. Cover to cover in 1 year.
Duration: 1 Year — Amount: Whole Bible | Download the PDF
1 Year Through the Old Testament
If you would like to challenge yourself to read the Old Testament in 1 year you’ll find this helpful. This plan, like most Old Testament in a year plans, can be heavy on some days a light on others. Just budget you time since somedays you will have more reading than on other days.
Duration: 1 Year — Amount: Old Testament | Download the PDF
1 Year Though the New Testament
If you’re new to the faith or you just want to slow down and chew over the words of the New Testament this will be helpful. You’ll read 1 chapter a day for 5 days of the week starting at Matthew and ending with Revelation.
Duration: 1 Year — Amount: New Testament | Download the PDF
Deep Dive Bible Plans
These Readings through smaller parts of the Bible are great for those with limited time but want to read deeply
Old Testament Bible Reading Plans
The Law (Genesis to Deuteronomy)
This plan will take you through the foundation of Biblical understanding. The Law, Books of Moses, or Pentateuch are essential to understanding the rest of the Bible.
Duration: 1 Year — Amount: 5 Books | Download the PDF
Historical Books (Joshua to Esther)
Spend the year reading about God’s covenant faithfulness, the highs and the lows of Israelite devotion, and see the redemptive sweep of Biblical history.
Duration: 1 Year — Amount: 12 Books of Biblical History | Download the PDF
Poetry & Wisdom (Job to Song of Solomon)
The Poetry of the Scriptures shed light on the profound depth of human emotion in light of God and His promises. The Wisdom literature give practical principles for godly living the come from a heart that loves the Lord.
Duration: 1 Year — Amount: 5 Books of Poetry & Wisdom | Download the PDF
All The Prophets (Isaiah to Malachi)
Delve deep into the prophetic writings of the Scriptures. Hear God’s words to His people and to the nations as He spoke through His prophets.
Duration: 1 Year — Amount: 17 Books of Prophecy | Download the PDF
Major Prophets (Isaiah to Daniel)
Major & Minor prophets is not means to be a qualitative distinction but quantitative. It is not that the major prophets are better or more important but that their writings are generally longer. That said, enjoy a year exploring the depths of the prophets. See how the Christ is prophesied so clearly in Isaiah. Soak in the gospel through the prophet Jeremiah. And stand in wonder of the visions in Ezekiel.
Duration: 1 Year — Amount: 5 Book of Prophecy | Download the PDF
Minor Prophets (Hosea to Malachi)
This is a wonderful Bible reading plan full of variety and Messianic hope. Hear of God’s covenant love in Hosea. See God send the gospel to the gentiles in Jonah. And hear the voice proclaiming His covenant faithfulness in Malachi.
Duration: 1 Year — Amount: 12 Books of Prophecy| Download the PDF
New Testament Bible Reading Plans
Read the Gospels (Matthew to John)
Spend time this year looking at who Jesus is, what He has done, and what hope there is for the world today.
We did the plan live throughout 2020! Check it out by clicking the link DEVOTIONS above.
Duration: 1 Year — Amount: 4 Books | Download the PDF
Gospels & Revelation (Matthew to John + Revelation)
Learn about the Alpha and the Omega. During this year you’ll see the promises of the Old Testament come to fulfillment in Jesus. You will also be blessed to see the Son of Man sitting on His throne being worshiped by the heavenly hosts.
Duration: 1 Year — Amount: 5 Books | Download the PDF
Jesus & Paul (Matthew – Hebrews)
This Bible reading plan will take you through all the gospels. You will learn of the Christ and His eternal kingdom. Then you will see how that gospel spread to the furthest reaches of the known world. Your heart will also be challenged and blessed as you study God’s instruction to the Churches in Christ.
Duration: 1 Year — Amount: 19 Books | Download the PDF
Paul’s Letters (Romans to Hebrews)
Paul’s letters are foundational to the Christian church. Working through these books will give you the foundation of Jesus in your faith and point you to Jesus as the cornerstone of the church. Paul’s letters to the church and pastors are absolutely necessary to understanding God’s will for your life.
Duration: 1 Year — Amount: 13 Books | Download the PDF
Hebrews to Revelation
Your soul is going to be enriched as you read about Jesus the author and perfecter of your faith. In Hebrews see how the whole Old Testament points toward and is fulfilled in Jesus. You’ll receive instruction from the book of James for your life. John will point you to Jesus time and again. Revelation will show you Christ in His splendor.
Duration: 1 Year — Amount: 9 Books | Download PDF
Sharon Reformed Presbyterian Church is located in SE Iowa within driving distance from Burlington, Columbus Junction, Mediapolis, Middletown, Morning Sun, Mt. Pleasant, and Winfield.
Note:
We did not create many of these plans. Most of the Bible Reading Plans have their creators’ information in the plan. Creators own all intellectual copyrights to their works. In compiling this list of Bible Reading Plans Sharon Reformed Presbyterian Church is not giving approval to any ministry, church, or organization but merely listing resources which they have provided online for use.
This list was assembled by Bryan Schneider, pastor of Sharon Reformed Presbyterian Church in Morning Sun, Iowa.
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The Mystery of Being Human in a Dehumanizing World
Christ told us where we would encounter him in this world, whether to our credit or shame, among the hungry, thirsty, naked, stranger, sick, and imprisoned (Matthew 25:31–46); he declares, that “whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me” (John 13:20).
In the summer of 2021 I began driving an ice cream truck. My small contribution to Howdy Homemade Ice Cream, an ice cream shop that deliberately employs workers with intellectual, emotional, and/or physical disabilities, such as Down Syndrome, was to simply provide transportation for catered events so that Howdy Homemade’s workers were not only included but actively contributing their gifts in service for others to receive. At catered events in public parks, office buildings, private birthday parties, churches, soup kitchens, and more, young and old formed queues for ice cream that at times reminded me of the diverse crowd that processes to receive the Eucharist. The recent “Hiring Chain” advertisement by CoorDown well depicts my own aspiration, that some of these customers might observe Howdy Homemade’s workers in these different contexts and consider how they might create similar jobs in their places of employment, especially since so few good jobs with adequate pay and health insurance exist for people with significant disabilities.
There is probably a more technically efficient way to run an ice cream store than Howdy Homemade’s mode of operation. As John Swinton well describes in Becoming Friends of Time, people with disabilities tend to relate to time differently than those of us who have become habituated by modern life to following a clock, functioning more like machines than humans. But the reason Howdy Homemade narrowly survived the economic challenges of the pandemic is because the broader community of which the store is a part valued the humanizing goods HH contributes to the broader public, such as joy and hospitality, which derive from its founder’s self-consciously Christian aims and disposition.
Sadly, Howdy Homemade is an extraordinary exception to how people with Down Syndrome and other physical, emotional, and intellectual disabilities are regarded in the world today. Remembering how Christians throughout the centuries have understood humanity to have been created in the image of God is a continual need in order for us to rightly discern our time and place in this world of wonders and perils. Not only can such a vision clarify our obligations towards our fellow human beings. It must also unsettle and re-make how we imagine what it means to be a human being.
Down Syndrome and Inhospitality
In her December 2020 piece in The Atlantic, “The Last Children of Down Syndrome,” Sarah Zhang interviewed persons with Down Syndrome and families around the world who care for children with a range of more and less severe physical, emotional, and intellectual disabilities related to Down Syndrome. Alongside her nuanced and intimate depiction of their plight, Zhang’s analysis raises a disturbing prospect, that we might have a future altogether without human beings who have Down Syndrome:
Denmark is unusual for the universality of its screening program and the comprehensiveness of its data, but the pattern of high abortion rates after a Down syndrome diagnosis holds true across Western Europe and, to a somewhat lesser extent, in the United States. In wealthy countries, it seems to be at once the best and the worst time for Down syndrome. Better health care has more than doubled life expectancy. Better access to education means most children with Down syndrome will learn to read and write. Few people speak publicly about wanting to “eliminate” Down syndrome. Yet individual choices are adding up to something very close to that.
The complexities of abortion in the contemporary world are manifold; writing in Plough, Kirsten Sanders describes the decision making process of women considering an abortion as wrestling with ghosts. But the arrangement of our common life, encompassing vast healthcare systems and individual decisions, prevent most – and in some places, nearly all – people with Down Syndrome from ever being welcomed into this world. Routinely, pro-choice or pro-abortion advocates will criticize conservatives for trying to make abortion illegal while also advocating for austerity with respect to the welfare state, and rightly so. The conservative preference for an informal but strong network of local support from churches, family members, and friends is theoretically desirable. But in our increasingly fragmented and isolated modern world, where bonds that traditionally wove communities together are increasingly frayed, these networks are harder to form and maintain, such that policies of economic austerity can foster child poverty. Consequently, pro-life advocates are routinely stereotyped as valuing human dignity within the womb but not outside of it, not least when it comes to matters of poverty and justice in other arenas of political and socio-economical life.
However, a serious problem with that line of criticism is that countries with the very best social safety nets and the very best public health insurance in the world – the Nordic countries – have a slightly higher abortion rate than the United States. According to the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, “Some 57,000 induced abortions were performed in Finland, Sweden and Norway in 2019, that is, 12.4 abortions per thousand women of childbearing age (15–49 years).” According to the Centers for Disease Control, in the United States “in 2018, a total of 614,820 abortions were reported, the abortion rate was 11.3 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years, and the abortion ratio was 189 abortions per 1,000 live births.” So, while it is worthwhile to undertake whatever costs are needed to so support families in their material needs, to the benefit of parents concerned about their financial ability to care for children with intellectual and physical disabilities, it is not the case that public healthcare would necessarily solve this problem. In Iceland, the abortion rate is virtually one hundred percent where pre-natal screening indicates the child has Down Syndrome; in Denmark it is ninety-eight percent. As Zhang notes, there can be peer pressure not to end these pregnancies. Even if we regard universal public healthcare as a good worth pursuing, it not only does not reduce abortion rates but can actually increase them. According to a March 2022 report for the United States Senate Joint Economic Committee’s Social Capital Project, while medical advances have vastly expanded the life expectancy of people with Down Syndrome, up from 10 years of age in the 1960s to around 52 years of age in 2020, selective abortion means that in the last ten years about 67 percent of Down Syndrome pregnancies were aborted.
What’s So Great About Theological Anthropology in Pluralistic Societies?
In response to such trends, some point to the wonderful things people with Down Syndrome can do, accomplish, or enjoy. These truly significant accomplishments are indeed worth celebrating. Yet, as Justin Hawkins delicately warns, human worth and dignity are not determined by our perceived usefulness to others. People with Down Syndrome are not reducible to their achievements or capacity to enjoy things, nor is their existence reducible to inspirational examples for the ambition of others. But as wonderful as it is to find examples of people with intellectual and physical disabilities still accomplishing truly wonderful achievements despite all adversity, there are a great many parents of children with significant disabilities who may not ever accomplishment an athletic feat, hold a job, or speak – yet, even so, such people are no less human than you or I.
Our perceived utility to others, however great or small, might prove to be little more than the extent to which we can be exploited by dehumanizing forces and soon discarded, not least in the throwaway culture of land, animals, and human beings in the age of globalization.[1] Rather than envisioning the systems and tools of society as serving the good of humanity, instead conditions can emerge where human beings serve the ends of the systems and tools of society in a vicious, deleterious cycle. Historically, humanity has shown ourselves more than capable of confusing real virtues such as compassion and mercy with violence and brutality, taking it upon ourselves to put people deemed worthless out of their misery, as Lebensunwertes Leben, life unworthy of life. The marginalization and disposal of the lonely elderly, ethnic minorities, the supposedly unproductive, and especially those human beings with physical or intellectual disabilities is not only tolerated but becomes celebrated and championed as humane and dignified. We not only forget, but actively avoid realizing, that even the most fortunate, affluent, and privileged among us, in time, will become utterly useless to our own selves and depend upon the compassion of others as our mortal bodies decay. We are taken from dust, and to dust we shall return, despite all presumption, accomplishment, distraction, or protestation to the contrary.
Cultivating a self-consciously theological account of human dignity might seem like a non-starter to cure the ills of our common life, a confusion of categories as sectarian private values are imposed upon the so-called neutral liberal order of our pluralist societies. The rhetorical moves possible within public reason tend to create a neat distinction between public goods, such as individual liberty, and private values, such as one’s religious preferences. A metaphysical account of what human beings are, particularly one that explicitly draws upon the discourse of Christian theology, indeed breaks the rules of the liberal game for acceptable public discourse.
Yet, it is no secret that everyone who participates in the procedures of public reason does so not only despite, but often precisely because of, their sincerely held private values. One might argue in public for sincerely held, private values on moral and social questions, but must find seemingly neutral ways to argue for this vision in public, perhaps advancing a technocratic argument about how a political ruling on a moral and social question would affect the gross domestic product. But the political organization of our common life inevitably involves some understanding or another of what human beings are, which necessarily exceeds the constraints and limits of supposedly value-free, public neutrality. We might conclude, with Justice Anthony Kennedy, that “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life,” but this raises significant questions about what the rights and liberties for those who due to intellectual disabilities are scarcely capable of conceptualizing existence.
Liberty in personal preferences, commitment to one’s local community, and consumer choices have their place. But purportedly value-free claims to neutrality are ill-suited tools for understanding and criticizing the market forces and organization of our common life which degrade the earth and deem some human beings as unworthy of life itself. For some problems, comprehensive doctrines and value claims are inescapable, not least on the question of which kinds of human beings should be welcomed and loved on the earth as our common home, or why persons who have Down Syndrome and other intellectual disabilities increasingly are unwelcome in this world.
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