Askville Post #4: Abortion

From the discussion thread for the question "How much do you know about Roe vs. Wade?"

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[A user told how his wife had an elective abortion against his will.]

[User], how about YOU imagine that a young girl has been raped by a male relative, and is pregnant. The baby is severely inbred, and will be born without a head - it cannot possibly live. Due to a medical condition, the girl's life will certainly be put at risk if she brings the pregnancy to term.

Now, imagine that YOU want to force her to have that baby, even though it might kill her, because of your religious beliefs - beliefs that she doesn't share.

Your situation as you described it was a tragedy. But that doesn't mean that abortion is a tragedy for everyone - there are times when it can literally be life-saving. And it doesn't make it right for you to force your beliefs on everyone else.

The thing that really bothers me is that the people who scream that abortion should be outlawed consistantly IGNORE the fact that the politicians and policies that they support INCREASE the number of abortions.

You don't like abortion? Fine. Neither do I. So why aren't you supporting organizations like Planned Parenthood and other birth-control education programs? They've been proved to REDUCE the number of abortions. Whereas abstinence-based programs have been promoted by the Bush administration for the last seven years, and as a result abortions and teen pregnancies have gone UP.

Let me repeat that, although I doubt you or any so-called "pro-life" person will respond to this point: THE POLICIES AND REPUBLICAN POLITICIANS YOU SUPPORT INCREASE THE NUMBER OF ABORTIONS. THE DEMOCRATS AND SEX EDUCATION PROGRAMS YOU HATE DECREASE THE NUMBER OF ABORTIONS.

You say you don't like abortions, but you are doing everything you can to make MORE of them happen.

Seriously, what's wrong with pro-lifers that they don't get that? Are they all insane? It makes no sense at all to me.

Askville Post #4: Abortion

From the discussion thread for the question "How much do you know about Roe vs. Wade?"

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[A user told how his wife had an elective abortion against his will.]

[User], how about YOU imagine that a young girl has been raped by a male relative, and is pregnant. The baby is severely inbred, and will be born without a head - it cannot possibly live. Due to a medical condition, the girl's life will certainly be put at risk if she brings the pregnancy to term.

Now, imagine that YOU want to force her to have that baby, even though it might kill her, because of your religious beliefs - beliefs that she doesn't share.

Your situation as you described it was a tragedy. But that doesn't mean that abortion is a tragedy for everyone - there are times when it can literally be life-saving. And it doesn't make it right for you to force your beliefs on everyone else.

The thing that really bothers me is that the people who scream that abortion should be outlawed consistantly IGNORE the fact that the politicians and policies that they support INCREASE the number of abortions.

You don't like abortion? Fine. Neither do I. So why aren't you supporting organizations like Planned Parenthood and other birth-control education programs? They've been proved to REDUCE the number of abortions. Whereas abstinence-based programs have been promoted by the Bush administration for the last seven years, and as a result abortions and teen pregnancies have gone UP.

Let me repeat that, although I doubt you or any so-called "pro-life" person will respond to this point: THE POLICIES AND REPUBLICAN POLITICIANS YOU SUPPORT INCREASE THE NUMBER OF ABORTIONS. THE DEMOCRATS AND SEX EDUCATION PROGRAMS YOU HATE DECREASE THE NUMBER OF ABORTIONS.

You say you don't like abortions, but you are doing everything you can to make MORE of them happen.

Seriously, what's wrong with pro-lifers that they don't get that? Are they all insane? It makes no sense at all to me.

Askville Post #5: Is Atheism a religion?

From the discussion thread for the question "Is Atheism a religion?"

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I've been in other discussions with you, [user], so I know that you've been on the receiving end of some pretty nasty remarks due to your New Age inclinations. I didn't know that you'd been down-rated as well, though.

Here's the thing: maybe it's just me, but I make a particular point of not down-rating people for giving opinions that I disagree with. Nor do I give people better ratings because they agree with me. But time and time again I've seen that certain types of answers inevitably get awful ratings - and I'm quite sure that those ratings came from conservative Christians.

There's a degree of pettiness there that appalls me. These people claim to be true followers of what they believe is the ultimate power in the universe, the Creator of all things, the God of Love...and they spend their time screaming online against those who "dare" to disagree with them. They sit there securely anonymous behind their screens and deal out their version of divine vengeance against those whose crime is merely not sharing their belief.

It's kind of pathetic, and at the same time there's a sort of black humor to it, too. Do they think their God is so weak that it's necessary for them to take up a verbal cudgel to defend Him? Perhaps they think that sneering at atheists, quoting a million Bible verses, and down-rating them will somehow open their hearts?

My suspicion is that many of them are so passionate in their hatred of atheists not because they really hate atheists, but because in their minds atheists represent their own doubts and weaknesses. I've noticed that the arguments they make are invariably predicated on the assumption that all atheists share basic Christian belief; why else would they threaten an atheist with Hell when atheists by definition don't BELIEVE in Hell?

I think that all the polemics and rage are really directed at the most important audience of all: themselves. By attacking a "Godless" enemy, they bolster their own feelings of worthiness; a worthiness that they perhaps feel deep down they lack.

Askville Post #5: Is Atheism a religion?

From the discussion thread for the question "Is Atheism a religion?"

---

I've been in other discussions with you, [user], so I know that you've been on the receiving end of some pretty nasty remarks due to your New Age inclinations. I didn't know that you'd been down-rated as well, though.

Here's the thing: maybe it's just me, but I make a particular point of not down-rating people for giving opinions that I disagree with. Nor do I give people better ratings because they agree with me. But time and time again I've seen that certain types of answers inevitably get awful ratings - and I'm quite sure that those ratings came from conservative Christians.

There's a degree of pettiness there that appalls me. These people claim to be true followers of what they believe is the ultimate power in the universe, the Creator of all things, the God of Love...and they spend their time screaming online against those who "dare" to disagree with them. They sit there securely anonymous behind their screens and deal out their version of divine vengeance against those whose crime is merely not sharing their belief.

It's kind of pathetic, and at the same time there's a sort of black humor to it, too. Do they think their God is so weak that it's necessary for them to take up a verbal cudgel to defend Him? Perhaps they think that sneering at atheists, quoting a million Bible verses, and down-rating them will somehow open their hearts?

My suspicion is that many of them are so passionate in their hatred of atheists not because they really hate atheists, but because in their minds atheists represent their own doubts and weaknesses. I've noticed that the arguments they make are invariably predicated on the assumption that all atheists share basic Christian belief; why else would they threaten an atheist with Hell when atheists by definition don't BELIEVE in Hell?

I think that all the polemics and rage are really directed at the most important audience of all: themselves. By attacking a "Godless" enemy, they bolster their own feelings of worthiness; a worthiness that they perhaps feel deep down they lack.