Oooh, you got me. Yes, the study is limited in scope, and thus not applicable to make universal statements about all religious people and atheists everywhere. Perhaps you are confusing the article ABOUT the study, which is certainly slanted and inflammatory, with the study itself, which I highly doubt makes any such claims.
#3799992 - 05/05/1207:10 PMRe: Study Reveals Atheists are more Compassionate and Generous than Highly Religious People
[Re: 1oldminer]
Feral
Taoiseach den fhoirm baineann
Registered: 09/29/05
Posts: 2121
Loc: Wandering, but not lost
Originally Posted By: 1oldminer
Quote:
All parties except the baby? And pregnancy and birth is dangerous to women physically and mentally even if they weren't raped. Where do you make a distinction? And why?
Well there is always the adoptive route which would be more preferable imo than abortion. But in the case of rape where especially the rape victim is a minor as they are not fully mature enough psycologically and emotionally to handle a raped induced pregnancy...the abortion can be considered but only when all other options are considered first.
So, abortion is ok, only if it might be difficult?
Originally Posted By: 1oldminer
Also abortion can be considered when the child is born with such severe abnomalities that any chances of long term survival or any length of survival at all is not feasable...that is more than a few days of needless suffering for all involved including the child itself...then it is in the best interest for all to terminate the pregnancy.
What if the best interest of all involved is not to have any baby at all? And which is it? I've known quite a few wonderful people that didn't live very long. I also know quite a few that are terribly crippled. You are saying it would have been ok to terminate them? And needless suffering? Do you mean physical or mental? For who? What if the fetus has no brain activity, even late term? What about after the fact? What if the kid is born a vegetable? Is it ok to kill it after? How long after? What if a kid has a disease and lives for ten years and then loses all cognitive function? Is that kid 'alive'? Is it ok to kill them then, to save them suffering? Consistency is important.
Oooh, you got me. Yes, the study is limited in scope, and thus not applicable to make universal statements about all religious people and atheists everywhere. Perhaps you are confusing the article ABOUT the study, which is certainly slanted and inflammatory, with the study itself, which I highly doubt makes any such claims.
We won't know what the study actually said until someone with a subscription to the journal it was published in decides to post it here. The closest I could get to it was a UC Berkeley press release on it - which, by the way, was FAR less rabid and acusatory than the article above. In fact, it was remarkably even-handed and contained exculpatory information about possible reasons for the observed behavior of the "very religious."
But the presence or absence of "universal statements" is the least of my problems with this study.
First of all, we have no clue how the study defines "highly religious" and "less religious." Nor do we find any information on the ratio of atheists and agnostics to the "less religious" used in the study.
More to the point, are not the "less religious" still religious? Why does the study conflate the religious with the unreligious?
And then there is the problem inherent in doing lab experiments with people. The very fact that they are aware that they are involved in an experiment and are being observed has unintended effects on the outcomes. The highly respected economist John List actually exposed the problems inherent in such lab experiments by behavioral economists.
Bottom line, this report leaves much to be desired and is far from proof of anything.
But then the actual authors of the report (unlike the victory-dancing author of the story above) would very likely say the same thing.
On a personal level, even though I'm an agnostic, I have donated to both religious and secular charities quite often, though not as much recently given my current economic situation.
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