Rest in Peace: Andy Lipcomb
 
        Andy was the first treasurer for what was then the Seamless Garment Network, now Consistent Life, and he served for many years. He said he regarded it as an honor – the kind of perspective that makes the best of volunteers. He died peacefully on April 21. See his obituary.  
 

 
Photo of founders at first meeting of Seamless Garment Network, now Consistent Life, in 1987: Andy is the second man from the left on the top row.  
 

 
Rest in Peace: Glen Stassen
 
        CL Endorser Glen Stassen died April 26. He was a Baptist professor at Fuller Theological Seminary (see their tribute) and authored several peacemaking books. CL Endorser David Gushee wrote a tribute. See also Christianity Today.
        CL Endorser Jim Wallis comments on one of Glen’s major achievements: “[he] introduced the church and the nation to the powerful vision of just peacemaking, both going deeper than – and transcending – the old concepts of pacifism and just war. Just peacemaking guides us toward the faithful and effective actions that both prevent and end wars through the creative and critical practices of conflict resolution.”
        Glen comments: “For my family, ‘pro-life’ is personal. My wife caught rubella in the eighth week of her pregnancy. We decided not to terminate, to love and raise our baby. David is legally blind and severely handicapped; he also is a blessing to us and to the world.” Another experience about his wife: “Dot went to work as a nurse in a high school for pregnant teenagers. The school offered child care, medical care, training in nutrition and child care, and the help of social workers -- all so that the girls’ pregnancies would not stand in the way of staying in school and developing careers. My pro-life commitments are deep. But so is my awareness that parents need help in raising children.”
 

 

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Economics and Violence
 
       A 1939 book offered the psychological theory called the Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis – frustration leads to aggression. This was tested in a 1940 study – could lynchings in the U.S. South from 1882-1930 be correlated with economic hard times? They answered yes.
        But they were wrong. In addition to other flaws, stopping in 1930 means leaving out the Great Depression, a much worse economic downturn. Yet lynchings went down.
        A similar problem arose with the prediction that a downturn in social services for the poor would lead to more abortions. Glen Stassen publicly made the prediction the decline in abortion numbers under the Clinton administration would not be sustained under the Bush administration’s social services cuts. His initial study of early figures convinced him this was so.
        But it wasn’t. U.S. abortions continued to decline under Bush, and under Obama. Just as the decline in lynchings continued with the Great Depression, the decline in abortions continued through the Great Recession. Accessibility and acceptability are on the wane.
        Offering much-needed services to women in dire circumstances doesn’t merely give them practical help; it also lets them know we care, and we’re all a community. Crisis pregnancy centers need to have governmental services to refer women to, but the caring and community remain no matter what the economy does.    
  

 
Quotation of the Week
Aimee Murphy
Executive Director, Life Matters Journal


        A culture of peace is built upon the respect for the life and dignity of each human being, regardless of circumstance. Without this respect, we devolve into using persons for our own benefit, we discard human beings for our own convenience, and peace becomes only a lofty, unattainable goal.