Summer is a great time for professional development! I am thankful to ARPA Canada for not only allowing, but encouraging the staff to set aside some time every year to steep themselves in a period of learning.<\/p>\n

For the past few days my colleague Colin Postma and I have been in Winnipeg, Manitoba attending the \u2018Understanding and Answering Summit on Human Rights\u2019 hosted by Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). The best part is that I\u2019m in Winnipeg, in the summer, and I\u2019ve only seen one mosquito.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Among other presenters and Christian apologists, RZIM also invited an atheist to the summit. Dr. Christopher DiCarlo, a professor in the Faculty of Human Biology and Philosophy at the University of Toronto, agreed to a dialogue with Dr. Andy Bannister, the Director of the Solas Center for Public Christianity at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. The theme for the dialogue was \u201cHuman Rights, by Design or Default\u201d <\/em>and it was attended by approximately 450 people, many of them Christian, but also many who were simply interested in hearing both perspectives.<\/p>\n

The following day we were treated to a more intimate conversation on the same topic. The conversation meandered through various topics before the subject of artificial selection in utero came up. Dr. DiCarlo, who, incidentally, was a friend of Dr. Henry Morgentaler and even gave a eulogy at his funeral, acknowledged that this has occurred in the past and pointed out that it still occurs today. He referred to it as \u201csystemic selection\u201d and explained how fetuses are terminated based on sex and ability. When pressed as to whether this was right or wrong Dr. DiCarlo expertly made the case for how, at the point of fertilization, a new life has begun, and that to allow the life to develop was his preference. In fact, his words were, \u201cJust leave it alone\u201d. I thought I was listening to a pro-life apologist! He was speaking truth about pre-born children! That is, until he said, \u201cBut it is still a woman\u2019s choice.\u201d When the inconsistency of his position was pointed out, DiCarlo again emphasized a woman\u2019s choice, and then the discussion had to move on.<\/p>\n

I really appreciated DiCarlo\u2019s response that as much as possible we should \u201cjust leave [the embryo] alone.\u201d It was a response that revealed his heart. But, in spite of the emotional connection to the developing human being, he still came to the conclusion that abortion was solely a woman\u2019s choice. I couldn\u2019t help but think back to the dialogue at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights the previous night. In putting forward the \u201chuman rights by default\u201d position, Dr. DiCarlo proposed a \u201cValue Theory\u201d whereby right and wrong are determined by neurochemical reactions within our brains which can then be transformed into community values. The logical extension of this is that because society has agreed<\/strong> that abortion is a woman\u2019s choice then it must be<\/strong> that way.<\/p>\n

DiCarlo and Bannister have had previous dialogues, and the respect they have for one another is admirable. Witnessing their conversations this week was to observe a striking contrast in worldviews; one based on ever-shifting sand, the other on the rock of Jesus Christ. I came away with a sense of sorrow for Dr. DiCarlo, indeed all Canadians whose worldview does not acknowledge Truth, even in the midst of speaking truth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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