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But which is better? To do something in good faith and be wrong or do nothing and be wrong? Pascal's wager examplifies
this I think.
Pascal's Wager exemplifies not acting in good faith. As the article I linked to you pointed out, someone who does good things for fear of God is not taking any sort of moral highground at all. A calculated weighing of the risks of believing in a god versus not believing in one is the very antithesis of "good faith", and if you believe in God, it seems odd you believe he'd reward such calculation.
Quote:1) If everyone practiced abstinence, the human race would end.
Also I stand corrected as far as virgins and stds though if
everyone did practice abstinance I don't see how the STDs
could get into the system to begin with..
2) Why the hell should anybody of a reasonable age have to practice abstinence or die horribly? Why should they be given inaccurate information and kept from possibly life-saving birth control methods?
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Well I could grant you the primates but dolphins? Come on.
Dolphins have been shown to be just as or more intelligent than chimpanzees in more than one study.
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You are applying modern techniques to ancient societies.
Something that too many people tend to do.
Kindly explain exactly what you mean.
Quote:Prove it. Peer-reviewed scientific studies, please.
Hence morality starting from Reglion is correct. IMO
anyway.
Quote:Then you'll be thrilled to know that the world, for all its problems, is probably the nicest it's ever been in human history. This is especially pronounced in the increasingly secular regions of the world.
Sort of like a perpetual motion machine, though now a days I wonder of if it isn't
breaking down....
Quote:First off, "most other countries that don't help much at all"?
As for africa, You assume the USA has a duty to help them.
Hate to tell you this but the USA chooses to help and the gov. have the right to add whatever restrictions on that help as The goverment sees fit. You may not like it and to
be honest I don't like it myself but that is the way it is.
Better than most other countries that don't help much at
all.
Of the world's 22 wealthiest countries, the United States has consistantly been either last or among the last in giving foreign aid (as a percentage of GDP). The only country with a worse record in foreign aid is Italy, since 2004. The country who gives the most foreign aid as percentage of GDP is Japan. Nor do the US's levels of private giving match those of most European or Scandinavian countries.
Second, it is very easily arguable - and demonstrable through many studies on the subject - that US-approved abstinence-only education is probably worse than nothing at all, seeing as how it spreads deceitful disinformation, and prevents the distribution of STD-stopping birth control.
Third, your religion fails miserably once again to be a source from where morality flows, despite lots of passages that says it should:
Leviticus 19:18 - Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
Deuteronomy 26:12 - When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled;
Psalm 41:1 - Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.
Psalm 82:3-4 - Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
Proverbs 3:3 - Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
Proverbs 22:9 - He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.
Would you like me to continue (because I can, believe me)? How exactly is the US's miserly policy - which includes lying, explicitly forbidden in the Bible - towards aid (and AIDS) in Africa reflect upon its status as a God-fearing nation?
It's sure as hell not defensible on secular morality, and it's not defensible on Christian morality, and it's not defensible based on agreements the US government made (in 1970, the US and many other nations pledged .7% of GDP to foreign aid, a total it has never come close to meeting, it currently donates about .16% - in fairness, it should be noted it's hardly the only one, but once again, has consistantly been one of the worst offenders).
What exactly is it defensible on?
James 2:19-20 : Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Quote:As has been pointed out to you many times, you can't prove the Tooth Fairy doesn't exist. You can't prove anything
However, You can't
prove to me he doesn't either.
doesn't exist. Does that mean everything that has ever been conceived is real?
Quote:So, since the government has been setting public school curriculums for as long as everyone in the US has been alive, what you are saying is that nearly everyone in the US is a fascist?
And letting the goverment teach your children any better?
That is asking to turn them into fascists..or worse.
Quote:Then kindly explain what your excuse IS for why it fails every single time. Which it does, as you have been given ample material to demonstrate, and could be given ample more.
Everyone: I don't buy biological function as an excuse for abstinance failure.
You have also failed to answer the question I asked, to wit: If the US refuses to allow birth control to be distributed in African nations on religious grounds (which it does), do you think that (in the certain knowledge this will cause many people to die painfully who would otherwise have a chance to live) this is right? Why, or why not?