I am a Pacifist

I'm glad I am a Quaker.  A Friend.  A pacifist.  I'm glad that I belong to a collective body of Friends who, for the whole, believes this statement:

Respect for Human Life: We reject the unchristian preempting of God’s authority over human life. Because we trust God as the righteous and final judge before whom we spend our lives in probation, we oppose capital punishment. Because we believe in the sacredness of human life, we oppose abortion for personal convenience.

I am sick that 17 years ago Keith Eugene Wells was executed in my home state of Idaho.  17 years later, with a daughter the same age as I was at Wells' execution will experience the first execution by the State of Idaho in her lifetime. 

Cardinal Joseph Bernardin's obituary highlighted his writings on "the seamless garment of life," in which he argued that one can't be simultaneously anti-abortion and pro-euthanasia, a big issue at the time of his death.  It was along these thought lines that I wrote Governor Otter and asked him to truly back his Pro-Life stance.  Life is life.  We as sinful humans shouldn't decide who live and who dies.  God does. 

I am a pacifist and I value all life.