With the issue up for review at the Supreme Court regarding Oregon's assisted suicide law, how is it that the party of state's rights (Republicans - of course) are trying to jam a federal law down a state's throat in order to enforce what is clearly seen by them as a moral issue?
And even odder, do these people NOT believe in free will? It goes back to an old question of mine about whether an 'all powerful' and omniscient deity knows the future, and thereby has 'a plan' for all of us. (Even if God doesn't have a plan for us, if the future is known, then we are all just playing out some sort of sick play) If this is indeed the case, and our lives are predestined, then no free-will exists, and morality goes out the window.
If it is my destiny to walk out of work today and kill someone, something that in a world of free will I would not do, how can I be prosecuted for this? It was part of God's plan. It's the same people that are such vocal advocates for capital punishment that seem to be in the 'God's plan' mentality. If I want to kill myself, as a result of my terminal illness, or for any other reason for that matter, why do religious people care? Isn't that 'God's will'? Is God for excruciating pain just prior to death, such as is experienced by all manner of terminal patients, as some sort of act of penitance?
I don't see how these concepts are reconciled?
I'm for assisted suicide in the way that Oregon has set it up, with oversight, and strict controls.
I'm not for making it easy for depressed people to get a hold of narcotics to kill themselves just because they've hit a bad stretch.
I do think we exercise free will, and that our lives are not preordained, which makes it difficult for me to believe in any of the Gods that three main religions offer up. They are all-powerful and omniscient, at least so far as I understand, and if there is a limit to all-powerfulness, then that makes you NOT all-powerful, and that is a slippery slope.
6 comments:
Interesting post... but very confused.
FWIIW, I believe free will is an illusion.
Steve
You've got to do better than that.
Why/how is it an illusion?
How did you come by these beliefs?
Whither morality in a system without free will?
I'm not buying it.
I've heard more than one person of faith suggest that people have free will, but if you do thinks that God doesn't want you to, it makes him sad. Of course, that doesn't answer the Mixdorf Sick Play Theory, whatsoever. God should know in advance that you're gonna make him sad, etc. etc.
I think most Christians (and others of the Big 3) would, if badgered long enough, would eventually box themselves into trying to suggest that God COULD know what's going to happen, but chooses not to, or some crap like that.
I'm with you-start trying to make your deity into just some sort of "superman" version of a human (which is really how God is seen by the religious right) and you run into paradoxes and inconsistancies for which there is no rational answer.
And I've not really given a ton of thought to "assisted suicide" (though I'm not too sure about that term-these days you never know whether names of issues are actually tools advancing the adjenda of one side or another-this particular one seems a little negative). But my gut feeling is: for God's sake, let people end their lives with dignity and a minimum of suffering for them and their loved ones. I don't know how a Supreme Court Judge can be against this and try to suggest that their view is not one based upon religion.
And I had the EXACT same thought regarding "the party of states' rights." Of course, they're the party of states' rights when the states are doing what they want.
Oh, and perhaps Steve has the "free will is an illusion" stance that I've argued from time to time. You can argue it for hours and then find out it's really just semantics, and you essentially agree.
Free will is an illusion from a philosophical point of view, but not a practical one. There can be only one outcome, given the exact same set of circumstances, and then it just cascades through all the branches of the tree through all eternity, and so on. Thus, no free will. But, since no one can account for all the variables that will be in play, it is for all intents and purposes free will.
E.G., to say free will is an illusion is like saying "you can't prove life is actually not just a dream." No you can't, but why would you even care?
Perhaps, but you don't just stop by my house, tell me that, and walk off.
You just might when you're really into atheism & free will and just clicking "next blog" all night, looking for every post on the subject you can find
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