“No Violence” Yard Sign Available         Molly Morrissey wrote to us that her parish had Right to Life yard signs up for Life Month, and she talked with her pastor about putting up yard signs reflecting other life issues as well. She noted to us that she found no yard signs in our CaféPress store. We had not even been aware that CaféPress offered yard signs, but this inspired us to create a yard sign for our store on the site; too wordy for those driving by, but suitable for places where people are walking by and can stop to read.   + = = = +   Another Resource on Targeted Killing of Young Females           On October 8 the European Parliament approved a report by a vote of 567 to 37 called Gendercide: the missing women?. (This is a pdf; if it gives you a redirect message, clicking "previous page" seems to work). The report condemns sex selection abortion and female infanticide. The report by MEP Antigoni Papadopoulou recognizes that sex selective abortion is a form of discrimination and violence against women and girls and that family or societal pressure on women to pursue sex-selective abortion is considered a form of physical and psychological violence.   + = = = +   CL Gets Around                 CL Board Member John Whitehead went to the Vita et Veritas conference, a pro-life conference at Yale University, and reports: “Representing CL at the Vita et Veritas conference was a fabulous and very encouraging experience . . . and generated so many ideas/possibilities.”           CL Board Member Lisa Stiller reports that on October 16, she attended a gathering of about 120 people from a wide variety of religious denominations to hear faith leaders from 14 various faith traditions speak out against the death penalty. The messages were similar, but said in ways that reflected the uniqueness of each faith. The good news is on Nov. 22, 2011, Governor John Kitzhaper declared a moratorium on the death penalty in Oregon.  In closing, Board Chair Ron Steiner said that they intend a ballot measure to end the death penalty in Oregon.                Our member group Orthodox Peace Fellowship of North America held its annual conference in Chevy Chase, Maryland October 18-20. We had a table at the conference. We had a good response, as to most in this group the Orthodox Christian basis for peace also applies to other life issues. Some attenders were already CL supporters, and others signed up for our list. There was considerable attention at the conference to the effect of war on the soldiers who fight it, and their challenges in adjusting back to civilian life. I (Bill Samuel, CL President) was able to point out the excellent work done by our research director Rachel MacNair on PITS (Perpetration-Induced Traumatic Stress) in commenting on the presentations.    + = = = +        Quotation of the Week David Gushee, The Sacredness of Human Life, page 400           Many have pointed out that the ancient human capacity for hatred combined with new human technological capacities means that humanity’s ability to desecrate one another and the creation is greater than ever. We can abort children at will, now through a prescription. We can tinker with the very genetic code. We can kill criminals at the press of a button. We can enslave and mutilate women on a vast scale. We can push the nuclear button and end it all more or less instantaneously or slowly poison the ecosystems, other creatures, and ourselves . . . We must, quite literally, “choose life so that [we and [our] descendants may live” (Deut. 30:19)

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