Quebec to legalize assisted Suicide
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- Created on Thursday, 17 January 2013 06:56
- Published on Thursday, 17 January 2013 06:56
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 524
Secular Quebec recently elected a leftist, separatist but minority Government. They know what people want and they have announced that they will introduce legislation that will allow those with a terminal illness to be able have a doctor help them end their life. According to a report in the National Post "A panel of legal experts has recommended the provincial government allow what it is calling "medical assistance to die" in rare cases where a patient is close to death and unable to endure the physical or psychological pain - and the Quebec government says it believes it has found a way of not running afoul of Ottawa with the measures." They have to be careful of Ottawa because assisted suicide is illegal in Canada under the Criminal Code.
Read more: Quebec to legalize assisted Suicide
Gay Scientists isolate Christian Gene
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- Created on Tuesday, 15 January 2013 07:12
- Published on Tuesday, 15 January 2013 07:12
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 541
Fundamentalists, both Catholic and Protestant, try to tell us that being gay is a “Lifestyle Choice” and not the result of being a gene. But it really is “in the genes” of gays. And now gay scientists have found that being Christian is also not a lifestyle choice – it too is “in the genes”. Christians have no control over who they are and what they believe – they are born to it. Don’t believe me? Watch this video that aired on Australian TV a few years ago.
Does religion make you healthier?
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- Created on Sunday, 13 January 2013 07:12
- Published on Sunday, 13 January 2013 07:12
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 572
A quick look at countries around the world suggests no - places in the world that are the most religious are by far the least healthy. For example, sub-Saharan Africa suffers from malaria, parasites, dengue fever, cholera, diarrheal diseases, HIV/AIDS and more. But which is the cause and which is the effect? Perhaps being sick makes you seek consolation in the after-life as promised by religions? Or maybe the focus on religion distracts from working to improve economic conditions which would in turn improve health?
Bad Arguments
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- Created on Friday, 11 January 2013 06:12
- Published on Friday, 11 January 2013 06:12
- Written by John Draper
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Religion is based on poor arguments. But that statement itself is a bad argument - no reason given, just a statement. It proves nothing. As a statement, it might be right or it might be wrong - but from the words themselves, there's no way to decide. If there was a following sentence with reasons or an introduction to reasons, it might be acceptable - but not by itself. Both theists and atheists use poor arguments and there are lots of wrong ways to argue Let me try to list a couple more with examples from both sides.
Missionaries are arrogant
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- Created on Wednesday, 09 January 2013 07:14
- Published on Wednesday, 09 January 2013 07:14
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 895
Missionaries always assume that you are wrong and they are right…… What a way to get your back up and be confrontational! In the old days (and today in Africa), you could prove you were superior because of your superior technology. God must be on your side - it's proved by your superior knowledge, affluence and abilities. Or maybe the missionaries are just better at arguing.
Whatever way you look at it, telling someone that their religion is wrong and yours is right is, at a minimum, the height of arrogance. Who can be certain that their particular version of God is more correct than the version of someone else?
Critic of Islam to be deported from Spain
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- Created on Saturday, 05 January 2013 06:30
- Published on Saturday, 05 January 2013 06:30
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 1121
Imran Firasat is from Pakistan but risked his life and left Islam - he is no longer a Muslim. To escape death, he moved to Spain where he runs a web site. Further, he is on a campaign to criticise Islam - he started with some cartoons (sample below), created a web site which is in both Spanish and English and promoted the controversial movie Innocence of Muslims. The web site also lists 10 reasons why Muhammad was a false prophet (Cobourg Atheist article here). Not content with that, he co-produced a 70min movie The Innocent Prophet that described why he thought Islam to be wrong - why people would be crazy to believe what is in the Qur'an. But he is not a Spanish citizen - he was admitted into Spain as a refugee. So when he announced his plans to release the movie, he was told he could lose his status and be deported back to Pakistan where he would face a certain death penalty for openly leaving and criticizing Islam under Pakistan's blasphemy Law (295-C). He therefore withdrew his name from the movie but meanwhile, co-producer Pastor Terry Jones released it in the U.S. on You-Tube.
Reason versus Faith
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- Created on Monday, 07 January 2013 06:17
- Published on Monday, 07 January 2013 06:17
- Written by John Draper
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I had another "man of faith" say to me the other day that not everything is subject to reason - or words to that effect. He was saying the same thing that many religious people say - that reason and faith are separate and that some highly intelligent people will accept religious teachings even though they know that there is no evidence or rational explanation for their beliefs. It's like they are saying there are two laws or ways of understanding things - one logical and based on evidence and the other based on something else. This other thinking process is meant to be a separate way of understanding our spirituality - that is, our non-material side.
The Morality of Abortion
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- Created on Thursday, 03 January 2013 07:13
- Published on Thursday, 03 January 2013 07:13
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 930
The whole premise of the case against abortion by the Catholic Church and others is that life begins at conception. We are supposed to believe that God intervenes and implants a new soul at this point. This would be the natural time for him to do that since this is where the life is different to the mother's. But the assumption is that life is different if there is an input from someone else - someone who is not the mother. It also is very patriarchal - it assumes that without a man intervening - providing the "seed" in the semen - then there can be no new life. With the help of scientific study, we know that life is not started at conception - it continues. Both the ovum and the spermatozoa are alive although the life of the mother does mix with the life of the father and makes a living organism that will be distinguishable from either. But sexual reproduction is just one kind of starting a distinguishable life. There are examples in nature where a "new life" simply starts by splitting cells. In fact that's how our own growth happens. Life never actually starts, it just continues. So at conception, it's just another form of growth in the mother.
