What It Means to Be Human

Jack Kevorkian will soon be out of jail on parole, but we likely will not be told much about the ultimate goal Kevorkian sought to achieve through his nearly 10-year, law-defying campaign of assisted suicide. Kevorkian does not believe that assisted suicide should be narrowly applied to the dying as is often reported in the media. This fact is easily discernible from his remarks, his writings, and his actions. Unfortunately, this ugly truth will probably be lost in the stampede to talk and write about Kevorkian after his release from prison. Instead, we will hear of Jack the Martyred Saint, a man punished simply because he wanted to alleviate the suffering of "the terminally ill."

On this episode of BNB Smith highlights the stark difference between the attitudes of two men toward the weakest and most vulnerable among us, a difference that can be described literally as the distinction between loving and killing. The choice we make about such contrasting paths will determine whether we remain a moral society committed to the pursuit of universal human rights.

What is this new idea called personhood theory? Under Personhood theory each human being doesn’t have moral worth simply and merely because he or she is human, but rather, we each have to earn our rights by possessing sufficient mental capacities to be considered a person. Personhood theory provides moral justification to oppress and exploit the most vulnerable human beings. Indeed, based on the writing of some of the most influential writers in bioethics in the world’s most reputable bioethical and medical journals, being denigrated as a non person can have lethal consequences and lead to the worst forms of abuse.

For more information visit Discovery Institute's Bioethics website.

Are we headed for a brave new world where unconscious people are treated as if they were simply biological machines? Wesley warns that we maybe headed down that path, even though today most people believe “that treating people as mere things violates the intrinsic dignity of the individual and the equal moral worth of all human life.” And yet prominent bioethicists and philosophers are contemplating, and even championing, ideas and legislation that could lead to a bleak future where human exceptionalism is ignored.

Brave New Bioethics is a new podcast reported by Discovery Institute senior fellow and nationally acclaimed bioethicist Wesley J. Smith.

Listeners can tune in to the first episode on Tuesday, November 14 right here on this page.

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In each episode Smith will explore the many policies and proposals in bioethics, bioscience, and animal liberation that threaten the idea of human exceptionalism and undermine universal human rights. Smith's unique approach will present his listeners with rigorously researched facts, unique analysis and provocative stories.

“The primary moral challenge facing the 21st Century is defending the belief that human life has intrinsic value simply and merely because it is human,” says Smith. “To put it another way human life matters.”