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From: steiny@scc.UUCP (Don Steiny)
Newsgroups: net.abortion
Subject: A nonreligious anti-murder stance (a proposal)
Message-ID: <588@scc.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 10-Jan-86 23:46:25 EST
Article-I.D.: scc.588
Posted: Fri Jan 10 23:46:25 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 12-Jan-86 07:42:31 EST
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Distribution: na
Organization: Don Steiny Software
Lines: 45

**

	I am an agnostic with a negative bias against organized 
religion.   

	I have always thought that there were purely pragmatic
reasons that stopped people from killing each other aside 
from laws or moral standards.  

	The most obvious one is the fact that humans, like prarie
dogs and other creatures, are social animals.   We need each other
to survive.   Language, something that is uniquely human, is "given"
to us by our society.   Our language influences our very thoughts.
When one person kills another, he can hurt him or her self also.
If society is negatively influenced, it degrades the quality of life
for everyone, even the murderer.

	What influence does murdering another have on the quality of
life of a murderer?   In our society it would degrade the quality of
life for most people.  Who wants to be friends with a murderer?
Even if it was completely legal, a murderer is likely to be shunned
by most people.   Job opportunities would be limited. 

	It is true that in the U.S. there are people for whom the quality
of their life is improved if they become a murderer.  For instance,
a member of a prison gang that murders a snitch.   Of course, laws,
morality, and so on have little to do with that situation.  Can you
fault a person if he stabs a snitch to aviod being gang-raped to death?

	Most people try to get along with their fellow humans because
it makes life much more pleasant and easy.  The motive may be selfish,
but it is honest.   The idea that people do not kill each other
because of laws or because of moral standards seems unlikely to me.
What difference does my or anyone elses religious preference have
to do with me or anyone else wanting to have an enjoyable life?



	
-- 
scc!steiny
Don Steiny @ Don Steiny Software 
109 Torrey Pine Terrace
Santa Cruz, Calif. 95060
(408) 425-0382