Our rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness
can only be secured by a state strictly separated from religion

20 June 2012

Pro-Choice and Surrogacy

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Over on the blog of The Objective Standard, Michael LaFerrara has a good post on opposition to surrogate pregnancy, particularly when the woman has no genetic relationship to the resulting baby. He writes:

Remarkably, though unsurprisingly, various people and groups want gestational surrogacy outlawed. Demarco notes that “Opponents of the bill run the ideological gamut, from New Jersey Right to Life to the National Organization for Women.” Their main beef is encapsulated by attorney Harold Cassidy: “The exploitation of women if this bill becomes law is unfathomable.” Critics fear that the bill “will create a for-profit business, where ‘brokers’ will make a profit off vulnerable women.”

These busybodies apparently believe that women are incapable of determining what is in their own best interest. They also apparently regard women’s choice to be surrogate mothers for pay as inherently wrong—and brokers (those who help potential parents and surrogates meet each other and work out the details of their agreement) as somehow immoral. Their view, in short, is that women are stupid and profit is evil.
Go read the whole thing.

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18 June 2012

Morality without God: Philosophy in Action Podcast

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On Wednesday, 13 June 2012, I broadcast a new episode of Philosophy in Action Radio on "Morality without God" with live callers.

If you missed the live broadcast, you can listen to the audio podcast. You'll find that posted below, as well as on this episode's archive page: Advice Radio: 13 June 2012.

Philosophy in Action Radio: Episode: 13 June 2012

Listen or Download:


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15 June 2012

Philosophy in Action Radio: Staying Objective

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On Sunday, 10 June 2012, I broadcast a new episode of Philosophy in Action Radio, answering questions on staying objective, deliberately unhealthy choices, consuming celebrity news, refuting Marxist arguments, and more. Greg Perkins of Objectivist Answers was the episode's co-host.

My discussion of staying objective might be of particular interest, particularly given that so many theists claim that objectivity is impossible without God.

How can a person be certain of his own objectivity? It's often difficult to stick to the facts in reasoning, and it's even harder to make sure that you're focused on all and only the relevant facts. How can a person know that he's being objective – as opposed to relying on unwarranted assumptions, ignoring relevant facts, or rationalizing what he wants to be true?
My Answer, In Brief: Objectivity is not easy, but a person can keep his thinking tethered to reality by carefully monitoring and directing his mental processes.

Listen or Download:


Tags: Emotions, Epistemology, Ethics, Introspection, Objectivity, Rationality

Relevant Links:To comment on this question or my answer, visit its comment thread.

Philosophy in Action Radio broadcasts live every Wednesday evening and Sunday morning. Take a peek at the Episodes on Tap for information on upcoming shows!

In the meantime, Connect with Us via social media, newsletter, RSS feeds, and more. Check out the Show Archives, where you can listen to any past episode or question. And visit the Question Queue to submit and vote on questions for upcoming episodes.

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13 June 2012

Tonight: Morality without God on Philosophy in Action Radio

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In this evening's episode of Philosophy in Action Radio, I'll discuss "Morality without God" with live callers.

Is objective morality possible or necessary without God? Can and should morality be based on observable facts? Join me for an engaging half-hour call-in show on the secular basis of morality!

  • What: Philosophy in Action Advice Radio Show

  • Who: Dr. Diana Hsieh with live callers

  • When: Wednesday, 13 June 2012 at 6 pm PT / 7 pm MT / 8 pm CT / 9 pm ET

  • Where: www.PhilosophyInAction.com/live


If you attend the live show, you can share your experiences and ask questions by calling the show or via the text chat. If you miss the live broadcast, you'll find the audio recording of the whole episode, as well as individual questions, posted to the episode's archive page: Advice Radio: 13 June 2012. From that page, you can post comments on the questions before or after the broadcast.

Philosophy in Action Radio broadcasts live every Wednesday evening and Sunday morning. Take a peek at the Episodes on Tap for the scoop on upcoming shows!

In the meantime, Connect with Us via social media, newsletter, RSS feeds, and more. Check out the Show Archives, where you can listen to any past episode or question. And visit the Question Queue to submit and vote on questions for upcoming episodes.

I hope that you'll join us tonight!

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Jesus, Prankster

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These pranks by Jesus are downright hilarious:



I'm so glad to live in a culture in which people don't believe that the prankster is actually Jesus or some other miracle-worker! (Well... some poor souls do seem to experience a few moments of awe.)

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12 June 2012

The Criminalization of Bad Mothers

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The NY Times recently published an lengthy article entitled The Criminalization of Bad Mothers. It examines the criminal prosecutions of women for endangering or harming their fetus due to drug use under "chemical endangerment" laws:

There have been approximately 60 chemical-endangerment prosecutions of new mothers in Alabama since 2006, the year the statute was enacted. Originally created to protect children from potentially explosive meth labs, Alabama’s chemical-endangerment law prohibits a “responsible person” from “exposing a child to an environment in which he or she . . . knowingly, recklessly or intentionally causes or permits a child to be exposed to, to ingest or inhale, or to have contact with a controlled substance, chemical substance or drug paraphernalia.”
The law is being applied to pregnant women due to the efforts of "personhood" advocates, who seek to grant full legal rights to zygotes from the moment of fertilization.

The result is not that fetuses are magically protected from harm. Instead, pregnant women are concealing their addictions to avoid prosecution, driving across state lines to give birth, and forcibly separated from the born children who depend on them. The stories are heartbreaking -- and frustratingly complicated.

That's appalling, but it shouldn't be surprising to anyone who has read Ari Armstrong's and my policy paper, The 'Personhood' Movement Is Anti-Life.

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07 June 2012

John Hagee: Atheists Should Leave the US

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Pastor John Hagee is no friend of the separation of church and state:



As it happens, I discussed whether the United States is a Christian nation in a recent Philosophy in Action Radio Show. It's Question 4 of the 3 June 2012 Q&A. The question was:

Is the United States a Christian nation? People often claim that the United States is "a Christian nation." What do people mean by that? Why does it matter? Is it true or not?
Listen Now

You can also download the MP3 Segment. It's just over 14 minutes long.

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05 June 2012

So Much Wrong in So Few Words

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This World Net Daily article -- Evolution to Fall in 2012? -- is so much wrong in so few words that my head nearly exploded on reading it. For instance, the article...

  • Confuses American public opinion with science.
  • Cites a Gallup poll on evolution versus creationism that assumes God's existence.
  • Uses Google search trends as evidence of popular opinion, even though they can't be validly used that way.
  • Laudes the increase in young-earth creationists, while criticizing evolutionary theory for its lack of scientific basis.
  • Flatly lies about the scientific evidence that proves evolutionary theory.
  • Confuses evolutionary theory with mere randomness.
It's a creationist train wreck, from beginning to end... and a good reminder of the scientific disaster that is the religious right.

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01 June 2012

Fight Church

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I must admit, I'm a bit alarmed by any pairing of Christianity and violence. However, this Fight Church Trailer is so strange as to be funny:



Yes, it's real, not satire. See the Kickstarter project and this USA Today article.

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16 May 2012

Crossing Your Fingers with Abstinence-Only Sex Education

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40 Percent of Young Adults Think Birth Control 'Doesn't Matter':

In abstinence-only sex education classes across the country, kids are taught that condoms have a 30 percent failure rate, that the pill causes cancer, and that pregnancy can result from touching another person's genitals -- if the curriculum mentions contraception at all. It's no wonder that many young adults don't understand how birth control works. A new Guttmacher study quizzed 1,241 sexually active young adults between 18 and 29 about contraception, asking them to choose "true" or "false" for basic statements like "all IUDs are banned from use in the United States" or "condoms have an expiration date." More than half of young men and a quarter of young women received a D or F on the quiz. Six in 10 underestimated the effectiveness of oral contraceptives.

Unsurprisingly, the more young people knew about birth control, the less likely they were to have unprotected sex. For each correct response a woman scored on the quiz, her odds of expecting unprotected sex in the next three months decreased by 9 percent. Meanwhile, her chances of using a hormonal or long-acting reversible method of birth control increased by 17 percent.

And it's not as if the ones forgoing contraception are ready to become parents: 69 percent of the women and almost half of the men claimed to be "committed to avoiding pregnancy." A full 40 percent of them agreed that birth control really doesn't matter -- "when it is your time to get pregnant," they agreed, "it will happen." In other words, a significant number of young people's "commitment" to remaining childless involves crossing their fingers, not wearing condoms or swallowing pills.
As discussed in this Salon article -- Why Obama's in bed with abstinence-only education -- the Obama Administration funds ridiculously ill-informed abstinence-only sex education, including the Heritage Keepers Abstinence Education.

The government shouldn't be involved in sex education -- or education -- at all... but given that it does so already, it ought not fund dangerous religious dogma.

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08 May 2012

North Carolina's Despicable Amendment

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David Deerson writes an excellent blog post on North Carolina's Despicable Amendment -- a.k.a. Amendment 1. The amendment -- up for a vote today (May 8th) -- would declare that “marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state.”

David writes:

The amendment isn’t only a strike against gay marriage but also civil unions, regardless of the gender composition of the partners. Depending on the courts interpretation of the language of the amendment, it could:

  • invalidate domestic violence protections for all unmarried partners;

  • undercut existing child custody and visitation rights that are designed to protect the best interests of children;

  • prevent the state from giving committed couples rights to allow them to order their relationships, including threatening their

  • ability to determine the disposition of their deceased partner’s remains;

  • make medical decisions if their partner is incapacitated

  • allow second-parent adoptions in order to ensure that both partners have a legal tie to, and financial responsibilities for, the

  • children they are raising.

  • invalidate trusts, wills, and end-of-life directives by one partner in favor of the other.



Apparently, the people who will be voting for this amendment don't even understand its legal implications. But based on recent polling numbers, it seems likely to pass by a wide margin. I'm hoping for an unexpected but stunning defeat.

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04 May 2012

Dan Savage on the Bible

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Dan Savage has taken a lot of heat for these critical comments on the Bible, but I think he's right. Just as modern Christians ignore the Bible's teachings on shellfish, masturbation, and slavery, they should ignore the Bible's teachings on homosexuality.

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02 May 2012

Another Cost of Anti-Abortion Laws

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Nebraska Couple Watches Their Baby Die Because of New Law:

Nebraska mother Danielle Deaver, held her brand new, premature baby daughter last December. She watched her struggle to breathe for 15 short minutes, and then die in her arms.

Deaver's water broke late in November, just past 20 weeks' gestation. When she went to the hospital, doctors told her that it was unlikely that her baby would survive, no matter what they did. There was no therapy that would help a baby that young. The doctors explained that the lack of fluid would cause muscle tissues to shorten, affecting the baby's developing lungs. They would likely never develop beyond the 22-week point, and the baby would not be able to breathe.

After a long talk, the Deavers decided that they would like to terminate the pregnancy, rather than waiting for their daughter to be born naturally and suffer. However, in October, Nebraska recently enacted a new, stricter law that prevents abortions after the 20th week of gestation except in very specific situations where the mother's life is immediately in danger. Deaver's situation was outside the law, and there was nothing doctors could do to help her.
Read the rest of the story. Anti-abortion laws always -- always -- inflict unnecessary tragedies on people who desperately want children.

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30 April 2012

The Daily Show on Personhood

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The Daily Show mocks the "personhood" movement:

The Daily Show with Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Bro-Choice
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical Humor & Satire BlogThe Daily Show on Facebook


"Can I be tried for past crimes? Because, I have to tell you, I'm like Sperm Hitler."

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27 April 2012

Man Rapes New Bride with Chloroform

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Man jailed for using chloroform to rape his new bride:

A husband who raped his new wife after knocking her out with chloroform when she refused him sex has been jailed for eight years.

The man, 35, tied her to a bed with a scarf and used the anaesthetic twice during their six-week marriage. His wife, a Bangladeshi ­immigrant, 23, first turned him down on their wedding night because she was too nervous.

The husband had denied the two rapes in Poplar, East London.

At the Old Bailey, prosecutor Richard Hearnden said: “She says she was forced to marry him. “The period of time between the defendant first meeting her and the marriage ceremony was extremely short.”
Just eight years?!?

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