The seamless garment: is a 'consistent life ethic' without consideration of the environment inconsistent?

Abstract

Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, before his death in 1996, was one of the strongest proponents of the concept of the garment of or a consistent life ethic. This is a crosscutting concept in U.S. social and political discourse and a measure that has been used to evaluate politicians of all stripes: Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives. In a nutshell, the seamless garment or the consistent life ethic calls upon its adherents to value human life from conception to natural death. The Seamless Garment is an allusion to the Christian scriptures wherein at the time of the execution of Jesus the Roman guards threw dice to determine who got his cloak; something that was considered too valuable to split. It is a philosophy that has attracted people from across not only Christianity, but a broader spectrum of believers. The consistent life ethic calls not just for opposition to abortion, euthanasia and war, but to capitol punishment and torture. Adherents to the ethic call for the dignity of the human person to be recognized at all stages of life and the relief of human suffering to be at a premium. This standard is a difficult one for politicians in the United States to adhere to at this time. Traditional allegiances to political liberalism and conservatism and the platforms and doctrines of the leading political parties conflict with it at one level or another. This paper addresses the question of the role of the Environment from a moral and ethical standpoint in relation to the 'consistent life ethic' and the potential repercussions for its inclusion in the current American political calculus.