I've just listened to the podcast of the Sunday nights with John Safran and Father Bob show (I'm a bit behind). On the show they interviewed Ian Bryce, NSW Campaign Manager of the new 'Secular Party'. To see how a secular party might do things differently to a religiously influenced party they asked how he would make a decision about something like abortion. He said they would use the utilitarian principle, the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Given that if both parents don't want the child and say only the child is keen to be alive then that's not going to change whether the child is a 2 day old fetus, 30 weeks into the pregnancy or 2 weeks after they are born.
Surely it would be better say something like we'd measure when the fetus becomes a sentient being and won't allow terminations after that, or some other measurable scientific principle. I'm usually groaning because I hear Xns saying dumb things, so it was nice to hear that atheist are susceptible of falling back onto a dogma too.
1 comment:
Atheists can say dumb things too
Agreed. (Though not all atheists are utilitarians.)
Surely it would be better say something like we'd measure when the fetus becomes a sentient being and won't allow terminations after that, or some other measurable scientific principle.
Science might be able to determine when a fetus becomes a "sentient being," but it is unable to determine whether that is the point beyond which terminations shouldn't be allowed. Paradox of the heap and all that.
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