[gumpzilla]

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There are very important issues at stake (stem-cell research comes to mind, as does abortion and birth control), where our leaders cannot admit to being guided by rational reasoning. A politician cannot say for example, "It is ridiculous to think that a blastocyst has a soul, because for one thing, there are no such things as souls!".

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And yet plenty of politicians who are ostensibly religious are in favor of legal access to abortion, over-the-counter emergency contraception, and embryonic stem cell research. I'd imagine you could find a decent number of atheists who are against abortion and embryonic stem cell research, too, as the soul is obviously a red herring for that discussion. (EDIT: That is, I'm pretty sure you could find non-theists who still think it is murder to kill an embryo because it is in some sense a living human, soul or no.)