Communicator (communicator) wrote,
Communicator
communicator

You are not fully human

I always remember that online discussion I stumbled into ten years ago where people were debating whether clones had souls. I don't like that thing, saying some people aren't really people, or don't have souls*. It's one of the things worries me most about religion.

Here's Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor. When asked on his opinion on atheists he clearly says 'there is something not totally human'... 'A search for transcendent meaning - we call it god - ... if you leave that out you are not fully human.'

Now, I've said, I'm not really an atheist. I'm a radical agnostic, because I think that all our models of the Universe are necessarily wrong. I don't think we can reduce phenomena to a material substrate. However I've never heard an atheist saying that s/he believes religious people are not fully humans. That's why I tend to have more allegiance to secularism and atheism.

I have been told BTW that scientology has a similar belief system - those who have not been through their process, whatever it's called - are not real people.

* ETA - thanks to someone who commented and then deleted her comment - true, I don't think clones have souls, because I don't believe in souls. But, hopefully it's clear what I mean, everyone human is 'a real human'.
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  • Phew what a scorcher

    I see Gove has backed down on climate change and it's back in the curriculum again.

  • GCSE Computer Science

    My book is now for sale

  • LJ Settings

    At the moment I have set up this journal so that only friends can comment. I hate doing this, but I was just getting too much Russian spam.