Dear runner,

Happy New Year. I expected that you would still be deeply mired in your superstition, and you still are.

Hope you will have a good year.

runner,

Mmmm…Answer one is a personal opinion until you back it up with some facts. Can you do that thanks. And, abortion is mentioned as though ‘evil’ atheism is at fault. Not so, dear runner.

The below figures are in the ballpark from other surveys I have looked at. It's from December 16, 2004. I think the figures have climbed somewhat since then.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Evangelicals-back-prochoice-survey/2004/12/15/1102787150247.html

“A survey of social attitudes last year found that 53 per cent of evangelical Christians - defined as Baptists, Lutherans and Pentecostals - agreed with the statement "a woman should have the right to choose whether or not she has an abortion".”

And;

“In her paper, Dr Betts noted that a recent random poll of 4270 voters by the Australian National University confirmed religious affiliation influenced social attitudes to abortion. It found 93 per cent of people with no religion said they were pro-choice, while 77 per cent with a religious affiliation also were pro-choice.”

Answer 2. is again, an opinion.

Answer 3. is again, a personal opinion that you would love to believe and it doesn't show much respect for the atheists on this forum or anywhere else? Have you some facts to back up these wild assertions?

Answer 4. is an example of religious arrogance. Nothing new there.

Answer 5. borders on the insane and requires no comment from me.

Answer 6. goes a considerable distance over that border.

Don’t look now but your hatred of humanity and terror of hell is showing. Who did that to you?

David

“We do want our fellow citizens to respect our deeply held conviction that the absence of an afterlife lends a greater, not a lesser, moral importance to our actions on earth.”

Neither this nor the opposite claim are straight forward:

If there is an afterlife, then what we do to others, say we break their neck rendering them quadriplegic, has LESS moral importance since this is not their only life and they have many more chances to make up for it and have a full/whole life later.

OTOH, it has MORE moral importance because it forms a habit which may increase our tendency to be cruel to others even beyond the grave (ours).

Which argument wins, on balance, is not clear.

Similarly, the belief that we are held accountable by a Creator, on the one hand causes us to hurt others less, but on the other hand it makes us insensitive to other people's (and animal's) suffering since the reason we help others and abstain from harming them is not moral, but a practical one - we only seek to escape punishment.

So does a belief in an afterlife or in a creator make us more or less moral on balance?

I think the answer differs for each of us, depending on our personality. If we are at a stage where we need a belief in order to avoid sin, then that belief is good for us at the time (regardless of its objective correctness or otherwise), but for others, belief itself can become a cause for sin, then it is overdue.

George I will refrain from giving my view.
It would upset at least one poster.
So retreating from and interesting thread.

David

'“A survey of social attitudes last year found that 53 per cent of evangelical Christians - defined as Baptists, Lutherans and Pentecostals - agreed with the statement "a woman should have the right to choose whether or not she has an abortion".”

since when did truth depend on public opinion? Most indocrinated people don't even accept a baby is human life if it means killing it 'guilt ' free. The Nazis did not accept Jews as humans in the same way.

what amazes me as a believer in Christ is the number of agnostic parents (not many atheist) who want their kids to have a religous education. That probably explains why the large silent majority support Chaplaincy programs while the small loud minority froth at the mouth and get so much national broadcaster airtime. I don't know any Christian parents who want their kids to ignore their consciences and be brainwashed by the fundie atheists.