You’re Standing on Ethics, Religion, and Science Part II

In the first book of the bible in the first two chapters we already find contradictions. The animals were created before man (Gen.1:24-26) and the animals were created after man (Gen.2:19). We also find four more contradictions right away (Gen.1:27& Gen.2:18-24, Gen.1:12, 26 & Gen.2:5-9, Gen.1:20 & Gen.2:19, Gen.1:3-5 & Gen.1:14-18). Given we start off with such obvious inconsistencies, should we look at the rest of this book with suspect?

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Do you consider yourself to be a conservative?

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Do you feel that Punctuated Equilibrium goes against Darwin’s Theory Evolution?

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According to the bible Lot was willing to give up his two daughters to be raped (gang raped) and murdered by an angry crowd. This was because the lives of two male strangers were more important than two women. Lots wife was murdered by god, because she simply look over her shoulder when she heard her home being destroyed. Is this an action of a just god?

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The "Trolley Problem"- You are at the wheel of a runaway trolley quickly approaching a fork in the tracks. One of the tracks extending to the left is a group of five workmen. On the track extending to the right is a single workman.......If you do nothing, the trolley will proceed to the left, causing the deaths of the five workmen. The only way to avoid the deaths of the five men is to hit a switch on your dashboard that will cause the trolley to proceed to the right causing the death of the single workmen.......Is it appropriate for you to hit the switch in order to avoid the deaths of the five workmen?...(Philippa Foot, The Problem of Abortion and the Doctrine of the Double Effect in Virtues and Vices (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1978)

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Apologetics are going to claim that the contradictions I brought up about Genesis is a misinterpretation of scripture. Isn’t it embarrassing that you would even have to defend such an obvious incongruity?

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The earliest recorded abortions were in Egypt 1550 B.C.E. and it was highly recorded in the Greco-Roman Era (146 B.C.E. to 476 C.E.). It was a common practice that falls well in the time line to be mentioned in both the old and new testaments of the bible by name. Regardless of your views on abortion, do you find it odd that neither the bible nor Jesus ever come out against the practice point blank by name? Isn’t it odd that given this is such a hot button issue with the conservative right, the bible leaves this issue up to interpretation and never mentions it?

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Do you consider yourself a Liberal?

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The “reservoir effect” takes into consideration distortions in the radiocarbon age of samples derived from environments where samples from a particular carbon reservoir may not be in complete equilibrium with the atmosphere. In short, this discovery helps scientist use carbon dating even more efficiently and does not discredit this radioactive clock. Do you feel it is fair that creationist’s miss use this information to claim carbon dating does not work?

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Apologetics claim to get there morals from the bible. Given the fact that the bible gets these simple, BASIC MORALS wrong:.......SLAVERY (Luke 12:47-48, Colossians 3:22, Joel 3:8, Exodus 21: 2-7, Leviticus 25:45-46, & many, many more),......RAPE (Genesis 19:7-8, Judges 19:23-26),......GENOCIDE (Numbers 3:18, Joshua 6: 21, Leviticus 26: 7-9, 1 Sam 15:21, 1 Kings 20:42, and on and on it goes),......WOMAN’S RIGHTS (Genesis 3:16, 1 Corinthians 14:34-36, Ephesians 5:22-24, Colossians 3:18, 1 Timothy 2:11-15, 1 Peter 3:1, well…I could go all day with this one.).......Do you feel it is safe to say we get our morals from somewhere else?

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The "Trolley Problem" part II- A runaway trolley is heading down the track toward five workmen who will be killed if the trolley proceeds on its present course. You are on a footbridge over the tracks, in between the approaching trolley and the five workers. Next to you on this footbridge is a stranger who happens to be very large. ......The only way to save the five workmen is to push the stranger off the bridge and on to the tracks below where his large body will stop the trolley the stranger will die if you do this, but the five workmen will be saved.......Is it appropriate for you to push the stranger onto the tracks in order to save the five workmen? ...(Philippa Foot, The Problem of Abortion and the Doctrine of the Double Effect in Virtues and Vices (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1978)

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Who is more moral the person who does the right thing because he/she seeks reward or fears punishment in an afterlife. Or the person who simply does the right thing knowing nothing awaits him on the other side.

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Jesus or the bible never comes out point blank and denounces slavery. In fact it is quite the opposite. Not only does Jesus not denounce slavery he actually says there are occasions where it is alright to beat them (Luke 12:47-48). Do you feel it is disconcerting that Jesus the “Son of god” goes against this basic human right.

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The term Theory has two definitions. (Oxford English Dictionary) ...SENSE 1: A scheme or system of ideas or statements held as an expiation or account of a group of facts or phenomena; a hypothesis that has been CONFIRMED or ESTABLISHED by observation or experiment, and is propounded or accepted as accounting for the known facts; a statement of what are held to be the general laws, principles or causes of something known or observed. ...SENSE 2: A hypothesis proposed as an explanation; hence, a mere hypothesis, speculation, conjecture; an idea or set of ideas about something; an individual view or notion. ...When we uses the word “Theory” in the context of the Theory of Evolution, the Big Bang Theory, Germ Theory, or Heliocentric Theory , scientists obviously are talking about SENSE 1. ... Does it bother you that when people refer to evolution as “just a theory”?

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THOMAS JEFFERSON said “If we did a good act merely from the love of god and a belief that it is pleasing to Him, whence arises the MORALITY of the Atheist? ...Their VIRTUE, then, must have had some other foundation than love of god.” Do you agree with this?

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Given that we do not define people by what they don’t do. (i.e. what do you call a person who is not a doctor, lawyer, policeman, buddhist, teacher,etc…) Do you feel defining a person an atheist odd or wrong in some way?

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Do you feel the term agnostic means you are some kind of intermediate between deists and atheist?

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The gospels are the only record of Jesus’ existence. If you look at Jesus’ resurrection story alone in the gospels you can find over fifteen contradictions between them, and remember that is just one story in the gospels. If we applied the evidence of his existence to any other historical figure (i.e. Nero, Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan…) we would no doubt say that person was never real or just a legend. Do you think it is fair that we consider Jesus to be a historical figure?

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Science, Evolution and DNA have proven beyond a shadow of doubt that there is no difference among the races. Any variations among us are literally only skin deep. “Race” is essentially an obsolete term unless you are referring to the Human Race. Given this physical evidence and if we abandon bigoted, intolerant, and useless ancient books, do you think we a chance to end racism?

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In my last poll I posed the question “How would scientists, in a scientific context, rank these terms in order of importance?” as of March 2011 73% of people who took the poll said “Most Important- Facts, Laws, Theories, Hypotheses- Least Important”. Would it surprise you that the answer was actually “Most Important- Theories, Laws, Hypotheses, Facts- Least Important”

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PS- Does anyone else find it quite odd that god creates light on the first day and the sun and stars on the fourth?

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