What It Means to Be Human

With the cultural earthquake of last year's elections, what will happen in 2009? On this episode of What It Means to Be Human, Wesley Smith predicts a grim future for ethical bioethics. Human cloning, legalized assisted suicide, embryonic stem cell research -- listen in as Smith takes a tour of our likely future and the challenges ahead for morality and decency in the world of bioethics.

On this episode of What It Means to Be Human, Wesley J. Smith looks at the rights of conscience for health care professionals. Western culture is profoundly split about what is right and what is wrong, and the culture of death is already punishing dissenters because their refusal to participate sends a clear message that certain activities are just wrong. Listen in as Smith shares how the issue of conscience is quickly coming to a head in the West.

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Why grant apes rights? On this episode of What It Means to Be Human, Discovery Institute senior fellow Wesley J. Smith exposes the radical Great Ape Project, which seeks a UN declaration welcoming apes into “a community of equals” with humans. The point is not animal welfare, but to break the species barrier and destroy the unique status of humanity, completely transforming Western civilization. What could the Great Ape Project, championed by infanticide proponent Peter Singer and anti-religious crusader Richard Dawkins, hope to accomplish? Listen in and find out.

On this episode of What It Means to Be Human, Wesley J. Smith takes a look at the media’s fawning treatment of suicide advocates. What does a reporter see when he visits the home of a suicide facilitator? Strangely and sadly, he often sees a hero.

Listen in as bioethicist Wesley J. Smith shows how journalism has become a prime mover in the culture of death, to the point that its terminal nonjudgmentalism cannot be trusted.

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On this episode of What It Means to Be Human, bioethicist and Discovery Institute senior fellow Wesley J. Smith takes a look at our culture’s "terminal nonjudgmentalism." How far have we come as a society when we lose the will to save suicidal people's lives? Smith examines two outrageous cases from the UK, one where doctors refused to save a dying girl and another where a disabled man’s parents helped took him to Switzerland to commit suicide. What does the advocacy of death culture turn us into? Tune in and find out.

On this episode of What It Means to Be Human, Wesley J. Smith examines a new extreme environmentalism that seeks to grant equal rights to . . . Nature. Yes, Nature. "Nature rights" have just been embodied as the highest law of the land in Ecuador's newly ratified constitution. Rather than establishing environmental protections as a human duty, there is now a self-demotion of humankind to merely one among the billions of life forms on Earth, no more worthy of protection than any other part of the natural world. What is the potential harm to human welfare? Listen in as Wesley J. Smith explains how the establishment of "Nature rights" is the culmination of 2008 as one of the most radical anti-human exceptionalism years in recent history.

For more information, read Wesley J. Smith's article in The Weekly Standard here.

On this episode of What It Means to Be Human, Wesley J. Smith, senior fellow in Human Rights and Bioethics at Discovery Institute, explains why human exceptionalism is so important for universal human rights.

There is a war being waged against unique human worth on many fronts, from personhood theory and the animal liberation movement to radical environmentalism and philosophical materialism. Very powerful forces have dedicated themselves to convincing us that we really aren't all that important. Smith explains these attacks and shows why human exceptionalism must be defended for the sake of human rights everywhere.

In this installment of BNB, Anika Smith interviews Discovery Institute Senior Fellow and bioethicist Wesley J. Smith, who shares his story of the people and events which shaped him into the advocate he is today. Hear how his career spanned from consumer advocacy to campaigning with Ralph Nader to becoming one of the nation's leading advocates for the value and sanctity of human life.

Do animals have rights? Bioethicist Wesley J. Smith investigates this issue in light of the dog fighting scandal surrounding football star Michael Vick. Smith argues that the outrage generated by Vick’s alleged actions stems not from any violation of animal rights, but from the violation of his own humanity. Smith reasons that humans are the only conscious organisms in the universe, the only beings able to reason and choose. This sets humans apart from animals, and vests in them a responsibility to treat animals fairly. If Vick facilitated a sanguinary sport like dog fighting, Smith concludes, then Vick has cruelly abused animals and ignored the higher standard to which all humans are held accountable.

Today’s podcast is based on Wesley J. Smith’s recent column that appeared in the Rocky Mountain News.

In this installment of BNB, Wesley J. Smith discusses the ongoing assault on human exceptionalism. Exceptionalism holds that human life is intrinsically unique and valuable, different from life as experienced by other organisms. Rising to challenge this idea is an array of figures including philosophers, academics, environmentalists, and materialists. Such people seek to erode any separation between humans and other species, and wipe away the idea that humans are beings with a soul. Smith warns that this trend could eradicate any foundation for human rights, and even pave the road toward classification of humans based on superiority and fitness.