Averthanus wrote:
ABORTION AND PERSONHOOD
> Our fundamental disagreement with the stance (philosophy?) of our good
> doctor, is his insistence
> on disassociating "personhood" from "human being." Our unambiguous position
> is that it is precisely
> "personhood" which distinguishes humans from all other animals – including
> the "higher" apes. Our
> learned doctor has made his own position amply clear by stating: "I have
> already stated that a human
> being is an animal belonging to the genus Homo." By this assertion, the good
> doctor forecloses the
> possibility of any further (rational?) discussion because human beings are
> only animals – no different,
> according to him, from the "higher" primates, who, he claims are our
> "evolutionary cousins."
Averthanus L. D’Souza,
In the hope of sparing everyone here a boring debate, one that will last for at
least five years, let me state the
obvious. Abortion is not the issue here. Abortion is only the proxy for the
real issue which is believers
v/s non-believers.
The group of people who have a religious book or guidance to depend on will
always be firm believers on
what they are told. If the book says no to abortion, then it is so. Any other
opinion becomes that of
'the anti-God.'
The group of people who simply refuse to believe every word in the religious
books have the opportunity
of finding out from science when life begins and when it ends. It is not
unusual to read in the Canadian
papers of a person being revived after spending 15 minutes at the bottom of a
lake. Science is pulling
people back from what used to be know as the 'dead.'
Similarly, science is also allowing for life to start earlier. Pre-mature
babies, those with undeveloped lungs,
who would not survive on their own strength now do so because of procedures
developed by medical scientist.
The work of medical scientist is not restricted to humans alone. In a few years
time, medical science will
be able to use the DNA of mammoths (found frozen in Siberia) to revive the long
dead species.
While it seems that the drive of every scientist is to expand scientific
knowledge, the drive of every religious
person seems to be to repeat what he is told to believe.
There are thousands of websites devoted to the debate on believers v/s
non-believers. I ask all here that are
interested in debating beliefs, to take their arguments to those sites.
Mervyn1134Lobo
On a lighter note, here is something from the Letters to the Editor section of
The Globe and Mail, Toronto of
19th January, 2010.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- You report “a duel epidemic of obesity and inactivity” (Gen Flab Needs Our
Action – Jan. 15). Could have
fooled me; I didn’t realize those concerns were fighting each other. Amy Soule,
Hamilton. Ontario -
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