(Note: Originally written in 2006)

Peter Singer is a professor of ethics at Princeton University. He is well known for supporting euthanasia and infanticide and many other controversial practices. He made a prediction about the future of public opinion in the September-October issue of Foreign Policy. He forecast that by 2040, “only a rump of hard-core, know-nothing religious fundamentalists will defend the view that every human life, from conception to death, is sacrosanct.”

Marvin Olasky, editor in chief of World magazine challenged Dr. Singer, as to whether his support for killing the very young (not just abortion, but killing unwanted young children) or the terminally ill, was not like the Nazi programs. Singer, who had three grandparents killed by the Nazis, said in Writings on an Ethical Life that the Nazi program was racially biased and designed to eliminate “social ballast” and “useless mouths,” while the euthanasia he advocates is a free choice of ill adults who want to die, or by parents who believe that their disabled children are better off dead.

Olasky points out that “The two positions are different, but they have a common denominator: It’s OK to kill socially inconvenient people. Hitler said the government should decide who’s convenient (sic) and Mr. Singer wants individuals to decide, but the slope is slippery. Already we’re seeing government hospitals ceasing to treat the elderly or ill unless someone objects loudly. When health care is government-paid, demands for ‘cost containment’ by euthanasia will grow” (World, October 29, 2005).

What about Singer’s projection? What will people think in 2040? Will we let the truth ring out? Will we be the only ones left in 2040 who will stand up for the value of all life? “Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked” (Exodus 23:7). We as Christians need to be vocal in supporting life.