Resisting Throwaway Culture: How a Consistent Life Ethic Can Unite a Fractured People
Overview
Winner of the ACP 2020 Resource of the Year
Winner of 2020 Excellence in Publishing Award from the Association of Catholic Publishers
Camosy begins with a hopeful starting point in the midst of a crumbling US political culture: two of every three Americans constitute an “exhausted majority” who reject right/left polarization and are open to alternative viewpoints. Especially at this time of realignment, we have been given a unique moment to put aside the frothy, angsty political debates and think harder about our deepest values. A Consistent Life Ethic, especially one which embraces Pope Francis’ challenge to resist “throwaway culture”, has the capacity to unite people who for the last several decades imagined themselves in a polarized culture war. On issues ranging from hook-up culture, reproductive technology, abortion, euthanasia, poverty, immigration, treatment of animals, and mass incarceration, this book articulates a new moral vision in which a culture of encounter and hospitality replaces a consumer culture in which the most vulnerable get used and discarded as so much trash. At bottom, Camosy offers readers a golden opportunity to dialogue about what kinds of values should serve as the foundation for a new political culture.
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- Provides a hopeful starting point in the midst of a crumbling US political culture
- Articulates a new moral vision in which a culture of encounter and hospitality replaces a consumer culture
- Offers readers a golden opportunity to dialogue about what kinds of values should serve as the foundation for a new political culture
Camosy diagnoses America’s current ills better than anyone and offers the most compelling and hopeful way forward of anybody I’ve read. Unlike a lot of pro-life activists, he doesn’t shy away from the most difficult moral issues of our time. Indeed, he embraces them, even as he dismantles modern America’s “throwaway culture.” I don’t always agree with Charlie on everything, but if you’re looking for a coherent argument and compassionate worldview—delivered by someone with the credentials to reach a sophisticated and cynical world—this is the only book of its kind.
—Matt Lewis, Senior Columnist at the Daily Beast CNN Political Commentator
Responding to a climate of political tribalism and cultural fracturing, Dr. Camosy’s new book provides a unifying framework for creating a culture of encounter in which mercy, responsibility and dignity lift up vulnerable populations for special protection and welcome. This framework, a growing edge of the Consistent Life Ethic, challenges us to take a stand against a ‘throw away culture’ in which vulnerable people are reduced to a product in the marketplace instead of recognized for their inherent and irreducible value. If we allow ourselves to be challenged and moved by Camosy’s arguments, we can create a culture of encounter capable of resisting what Pope Francis calls a “globalization of indifference.”
—Kristin M. Collier, MD FACP, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, Director of the Program on Health, Spirituality and Religion, University of Michigan Medical School
This book is a must read, deep dive for anyone with questions about the sanctity and dignity of human life in contemporary society. Conservatives and liberals alike will cheer and loathe various chapters with equal fervor, once again making Professor Camosy impossible to pigeonhole as a partisan of any stripe. Agree or disagree, this work is an important contribution to the national conversation about a consistent life ethic.
—Kelly M. Rosati, JD, CEO of KMR Consulting and former VP of Advocacy for Children at Focus on the Family