Re: Mathematics of Souls

[rayilynlee <rayilynlee@xxxxxxx>]

Bernie:

The argument goes like this:  blastocysts in petri dishes are equal to
living people because they have souls.  Destroying them for research is
tantamount to murdering a person, baby or fetus.  When a blastocyst twins, I
guess the soul splits in two; when it fuses with another to become a chimera
a soul is lost ....If I believed this I could understand why some people
don't want anything to do with it.  But I don't and am not bothered by ESCR
at all.

I guess most of us have living people as our top priorities.  I think Bush
and his followers have a strange morality that approximates Islamic
Fundamentalism.

On a blog someone stated sarcastically that a great way to demonstrate that
killing was wrong was to lynch someone like Saddam Hussein.   I am no fan of
the Butcher of Baghdad, but I thought the execution was disgusting,
especially Sean Hannity's celebratory antics.  Maybe Bush feels good now.

I would be interested to know how other people felt.  I sense a shift in
sentiment about capital punishment, but could be wrong.  How would folks
feel about the "death" of a blastocyst?

Ray


----- Original Message -----
From: "Bernard Barber Ph.D." <dbbarber@xxxxxxx>
To: <PARKINSN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2006 10:53 AM
Subject: Re: Bush poised to veto SCR bill


> Perhaps someone would let me know why a living person is less than a cell,
> morally. Why it is morally right to kill people or let disease free to
> harm
> us?
>
> How similar is President Bush to Islamic Fundamentalism, or dissimilar?
>
> Bernie
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Parkinson's Information Exchange Network
> [mailto:PARKINSN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of rayilynlee
> Sent: Saturday, December 30, 2006 4:22 PM
> To: PARKINSN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Bush poised to veto SCR bill
>
> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Majority Leader Bill Frist predicted on Friday the
> U.S. Senate would pass legislation next week expanding federal stem cell
> research, likely triggering a veto from President George W. Bush with
> unpredictable political repercussions.
> Bush has vowed to cast his first veto to block the research that many
> believe could lead to new treatments for diseases including diabetes and
> Parkinson's. The president says it is morally unacceptable to destroy an
> embryo even for scientific research.
> .
>
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