Singer writes as a naturalistic thinker. Material reality is the sum total of what is. Religious faith has no place in his universe, and it shows.

Interestingly, however, when Peter Singer’s own mother developed dementia he found it hard to live by his philosophy. His philosophy allows for the euthanizing of dementia sufferers. His rationale for this is provided by the need to use limited resources in the best way possible. But as Mark Coffey points out:

In reply to questions about the tens of thousands of dollars spent by Singer in providing private health care for his mother, Singer acknowledges that his own criteria—by which she is no longer a person and would suffer no wrong, indeed may be treated more compassionately, were she killed—determine that the money could probably be put to better use, yet he comments “[I]t is more difficult than I thought before, because it is different when it is your mother.”¹⁹

It is worth asking of any philosophy not only is it thinkable but is it also livable? A philosophy may be internally consistent and coherent but can it be lived out as though it were true? In the end Singer could not live his philosophy.²⁰

Rooted in his Christian faith, Martin Luther King Jr. had a very different view than that of Sartre and Singer:

You see the founding fathers were really influenced by the Bible. The whole concept of the imago Dei … is the idea that all men have something within them that God injected. Not that they have substantial unity with God, but that every man has a capacity to have fellowship with God. And this gives him uniqueness…. There are no gradations in the image of God. Every man from a treble white to a bass black is significant on God’s keyboard, precisely because every man is made in the image of God. One day we will learn that. We will know one day that God made us to live together as brothers and to respect the dignity and worth of every man. This is why we must fight segregation with all of our non-violent might.²¹

For King these were not merely ideas but grounds for action as can be seen in his non-violent protest rallies and marches. His belief in human value led him to protest discrimination and champion civil rights.

Medical doctor and academic John Wyatt provides an illuminating contrast between two views of humankind. The first he calls “Lego Kits.” Think of the variety of things that can be made from Lego: boats, people, planes, houses, and so on. As Wyatt puts it, “…. We are free to be our own designers.”²² The natural order can be changed through the application of technology which is value free. The other view he terms “God’s masterpieces.” On this approach our embodiment is a gift from God. However, he argues, “The original masterpiece, created with such love and embodying such artistry, has become flawed, defaced, and contaminated.”²³ The message of the Bible is that God’s project is one of “art restoration.” Jesus Christ plays the crucial role in the project. God’s Son became human and rose in bodily form. The value of the human body is thus affirmed. Moreover, he argues, “In biblical thought, each human life has a unique dignity because of the divine image, therefore each life has an incalculable and incommensurable value.”²⁴ As we have seen, it was this belief that animated Martin Luther King Jr. This same belief also energized Mother Teresa in her ministry to the dying poor of Calcutta. At her funeral it was rightly said, “The story of Mother Teresa’s life is no mere humanitarian exploit, as she would be the first to declare. It is a story of biblical faith. It can only be explained as a proclamation of Jesus Christ by—in her own words—”loving and serving Him in the distressing disguise of the poorest of the poor, both materially and spiritually, recognizing in them and restoring to them the image and likeness of God” (Constitutions of the Missionaries of Charity, I, 1).²⁵