Sociopathy and Religion - Useless Defeatist Anti-choice Argument

Disclaimer: I am not a psychologist or psychiatrist. This is simply my amateur opinion. Nothing more.

"Let's not try to improve what can never be perfect." Wow. That's the most defeatist copout I've ever heard.

PCL-R Checklist attributes present:

- Superficial glibness
- Inability to take responsibility for one's own actions
- Pathological lying (also semantic wordplay)
- Cunning/Manipulative
- Shallow affect


The speaker is Father Frank Brennan.

Background info: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/bigideas/stories/2009/02/04/2481826.htm

"Do no harm." What a copout. It would be murder to allow a young child with juvenile diabetes to die due to a lack of treatment. But apparently self-starvation (see the Christian Rossiter case) is A-OK. That's not compassion, and it certainly isn't good law.

IQ2: We Should Legalise Euthanasia
04 Feb 2009, 10:00

The first of the IQ2 debates for 2009 drew boos, cheers and hisses from the capacity audience, and that was just for Tony Abbott's address. Squaring up against a panel of pro-voluntary-euthanasia heavyweights led by Dr. Philip Nitschke, Abbott sharply divided the partisan audience. Both sides delivered passionate, sincere and reasoned arguments. But despite the rumoured 70-seat group booking made by the Right-to-Life Association, at the conclusion of the debate 75% of the audience voted for the proposition, with 20% against and 5% undecided.

In order of appearance, the speakers were:

Dr Philip Nitschke is a long-time campaigner for voluntary euthanasia and founding director of Exit International. His advocacy of this cause has made him a controversial figure in Australia and internationally.

Dr Maria Cigolini has studied and worked in the field of palliative care for more than 20 years. She is currently on the Medical Advisory Committee of Longueville Private Hospital, which specialises in palliative care.

Senator Bob Brown is the leader of the Australian Greens. Throughout his political career he has campaigned for reforms to laws on voluntary euthanasia.

Hon Tony Abbott is an MP in the federal opposition. He served as Health Minister in John Howard's government. A staunch Catholic, he has long been a vocal opponent of voluntary euthanasia.

Prof Peter Baume has had a distinguished career in public health and politics. He served as a senator in the Fraser Government. As Professor of Community Medicine at the University of NSW in the 1990s his areas of research included drug reform and euthanasia. More recently, he is patron of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of NSW.

Father Frank Brennan is a Jesuit priest and scholar who has spent his career campaigning for human rights, especially for indigenous Australians and refugees. He is the author of many books, including "The Wik Debate" and "Tampering With Asylum".

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[RaynorGo]

@dmk19731 Right on, my rational brother/sister. Right on. :)

[dmk19731]

In a democratic society whereby persons are able to make informed choices, why are we constantly reminded of traditional values that are outdated with todays views within modern society. Compassion requires understanding. No one can understand the pain and suffering of another, but they can certainly relate to it either from their own experiences or from a 3rd party perspective. No one has the right to overrule one's own informed choice or decision that one makes, nor should we try.

[RaynorGo]

@jhunted7667 Religion is all about control. They use platitudes and ignore the reality of pain, suffering and true compassion in the name of their ideologies.

[jhunted7667]

Nazism , I think greed is breeding all of this , why kill someone by medicine unless you want what they have , unless you want to say the devil made me do it , I read a strange sort of book called Man , Greed and the Economy , it all ends up to be about controlling peoples lives