Being a person is not something added on; it is not a quality or characteristic of the human being: it is the very way in which a human being exists, the very essence of their being. Dignity is not tied to moral, physical, or intellectual qualities, but simply to the fact that the person “is”—to the fact that, as an individual of the human species, they occupy an absolutely special place in creation.
Contemporary secularism’s attempt to eliminate God from public life has also led to the erasure of the concrete human person from that sphere and his replacement with a legal abstraction that dissolves under analysis and criticism. It is doubtful that human beings can establish a code that effectively protects their lives and rights if they overlook the most fundamental aspect of that life: that it is a gift, not just any available good, and that man is not the master of the universe but a contingent being and a creature.