Comment on The Left & the Right

A friend emailed:

Wow--I'm impressed by the lively debate between you two. You each articulated your arguments so eloquently and from deeply rooted convictions. Of course, being raised Catholic it is hard to let go of firmly set beliefs such as respect for life in all its forms. But the question then arises, what defines a human life that is worth living, one that is in the image and likeness of God (or whatever absolute we may believe in). And, as you pointed out, who has authority to decide this? Some of course would argue that any human life is worth living. Indeed, who should decide--the individual or the government (or the Church, for that matter)? The same questions arise in questions of abortion. It's clearly not a black and white issue--and what is interesting to me about such dilemmas is how they sharply divide people along ideological lines. This case reminds me of the movie El Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside) with Javier Bardem. Have you seen it? The crazy thing is that I never saw the ending. Should rent it again.