With all this debate about stem cells and Souls created upon conception, I started thinking about other beliefs. Why, some religions believe that Cows are reincarnated ancestors. If this belief is true, every time we kill a cow, we are killing a Human Soul!! By God, this has to stop! Hell, every time we squash that insect, whether it is fly or gnat, we are quelching another sacred human soul. This must stop. The US house of representatives should hear of this, the president should be written, Beef consumption should be stopped! I propose a Banning of all cow slaughter, supported and policed by the UN.
Milking cows should be stopped too. After all, would you lock up a bunch of human women and attach nozzles to their teats? How degrading.
Action should be taken immediately, as to preserve as many sacred souls as possible. By Shiva, this injustice should stop immediately. Join with me, fellow moral dopers, and let us shake the foundation of the heavens. Let us fight back this vile crime which will open up the way for Kaliyuga, and make LAWS!!
[sub]there is a debate here, I am sure of it, if not, feel free to move this to the pit, mods[/sub]
We are, of course, under no obligation to share those beliefs. And if those beliefs are true we are simply liberating trapped human souls.
I’m not. What do you see as the debate? That other cultures have different prevailing morals and beliefs? That policy is decided by the majority?
if you believe in “reincarnation” then won’t those dead cows’ souls move on to other things?
Ahhh, but it is the intent that matters. If as I walk to my car I squish a bug by accident or without thought, I have performed a karmically neutral act.
If I kill a mosquito in the house, so that I do not get bitten, I have performed a karmically neutral act.
If I pull the wings off of a fly for the pleasure of torturing it, I have committed a despicable act.
Simailarly, if I kill a human being to defend my child I have performed a brave and noble act, however if I kill him for vengeance after the fact my act is unworthy from a karmical standpoint.
If I raise and kill beef without malice for food, believing they have no human soul my act is also karmically neutral.
If I beleive they do have human souls and do it anyway, or do it for the pleasure of killing, than have I sinned.
if you believe in “reincarnation” then won’t those dead cows’ souls move on to other things?
Actually the debate being that policy should not be decided upon beliefs, whether majority or minority. I could start a religion that says that metal is a soul twin to humans, and should be left in its natural state so that it can find it’s own way to the shape it is meant to be. If this belief becomes a majority should we stop working metals?
I believe that debate arises from disagreement. If somebody disagrees with me, then there is a debate possible. I see the birth of one in this thread already.
I started this thread not because I am Hindu, or believe in reincarnation, but because I am not Christian. Why should Cloning or stem-cell research be halted because of somebody elses beliefs? Can they validate their belief and show proof that there is a soul upon immediate conception?
And if the cells that are not quite a baby, but have a soul are destoryed, they die without original sin, correct? Therefore we are doing them a favor by killing off their bodies and allowing them to attain heaven. Who knows how many of those cells would go to hell because they grew up in a family that is not christian.
As far as I can tell, there is little reason to do anything other than someone believes it should be so.
Yes, eating beef is immoral. That’s why it’s so good.
I almost had a point to debate about this, but I realized that it is pretty much true. I guess all I can say is it sucks being amongst the minority of “beliefs”.
It’s not about whether there’s a soul, but whether there’s a life. What is life? When does it begin? Is creating something for the purpose of killing it unethical?
These are not questions that are answered the same by all scientists. These are not questions that are answered the same by all Christians.
These are questions that may or may not have an answer. But to be against stem cell research, to be against animal slaughter, to be against anything, does not automatically mean God played a part in the decision.
I have heard a story, possibly apocryphal, that there is a Buddhist monk who had an intestinal worm, and a great theological debate raged as to whether he was entitled to kill the worm.
I should also not wash my hands, for fear of killing the millions of bacteria breeding on my palms.
well, dave, there are stories of buddhist sects where the priests carry brooms, to sweep their paths lest they accidentally crush an insect as they walk. But such extreme practices are mostly gone.
If god didn’t want us to eat cows, why did he make them out of meat?
-L
If they are just cells, what matter. We grow cows just to be slaughtered. Cows are closer to sentient than a group of cells. We also grow many other types of cells for various other reasons. They are all generally benificial. The thing that gets most people is that they are tied into human life, which is somehow sacrosanct and above other animals. This is where the whole “soul” thing comes in. I would understand it if the cells were far enough along to even be a fetus; they are not.
Ultimately perhaps. But pragmatically, there are many priorities that society pretty much agrees on. There are few people who would dismiss the idea that it’s a good thing to cure diseases or reduce teenage motherhood or reduce poverty as merely someone’s beliefs. And yet many are interfering with effective efforts to address these problems by trying to impose their whacky beliefs upon the whole society.
Well, according to the Bible:
“All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field.”
-Isiah 40:5-7
So Christian vegetarians can eat all the meat they want to. Any other questions?
I’d be interested in hearing their counter to that comment.
Epimetheus wrote:
Marrissa flashback! Hit the dirt!!
<MUT3K hijack>
NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
</MUT3K hijack>
jayjay (there is no Evil but Marrissa, and Ratliff is her prophet)