Why America?

[LordOmnit]

Maybe their just backwards?

Even though I live in the US I have to swallow patriotism and say that this is a major factor.

 

[hopeneverdies]

I wonder, could the fact he was an abortion doctor just a coincidence, and the media used the fact he was to garner views? I mean he may have pissed someone off who happened to be pro life.

 

[pewpewz]

The person who killed that doctor was pro-life, that doesn't mean they were religious, and it's quite ignorant of you to assume they must be.

Is it really though? I bet 99% of pro-lifers will tell you they're like that because "God" says that "life is sacred".
I mean really, what reason could an atheist have to not like abortion (excluding personal experiences)?

Ho ho ho, wait up a second here - this is a "when does life begin" debate, not a religious belief debate.
While it still holds true that life beginning at conception is often coined with roman-catholics, athiests can also believe that life begins at this stage as there is no scientific fact to prove otherwise.

Lets cut out the religion bashing assumption and move on to a more constructive debate, ktnxbye.

 

[bodyklok]

Maybe their just backwards?

Even though I live in the US I have to swallow patriotism and say that this is a major factor.

I apologise. Even though you agree with me I still feel that I must humbly request you forgiveness for this, because it was still very offensive.

 

[hypothetical fact]

Now, that being said I wasn't aware if the doctor really was killed by religious extremists or (strictly) pro-life extremists, but it seems (by the first two replies) that the person wasn't actually religious.

You would be wrong there. There is no concrete evidence of the person being religious other than the circumstantial evidence that this was a murder against an abortion doctor while abortion is opposed to many chrisitan's beliefs. It was also in a church where the concentration of christians are near 100%. However there is also no evidence to suggest that the culprit was not a christian. Unless Samus up there feels like divulging police reports.

TL;DR: Don't believe everything you read just because it "seems" like it.

 

[The Infamous Scamola]

The person who killed that doctor was pro-life, that doesn't mean they were religious, and it's quite ignorant of you to assume they must be.

Is it really though? I bet 99% of pro-lifers will tell you they're like that because "God" says that "life is sacred".
I mean really, what reason could an atheist have to not like abortion (excluding personal experiences)?

Ho ho ho, wait up a second here - this is a "when does life begin" debate, not a religious belief debate.
While it still holds true that life beginning at conception is often coined with roman-catholics, athiests can also believe that life begins at this stage as there is no scientific fact to prove otherwise.

Lets cut out the religion bashing assumption and move on to a more constructive debate, ktnxbye.

And I'm sure a lot of atheist who believe life begins at conception still don't give a flyin' shit and are pro-abortion anyway.

 

[pewpewz]

Late term abortions are cruel whether your pro-choice or pro-life.
And it doesn't mean he's a religous extremist, just an angry religous man.

You have no proof that he is religous.

I didn't mean he was a religous extremist, I'm just assuming he's religous because anyone who goes to church is obviously religous, and if you kill a doctor who performs late term abortion, then it's common sense that the killer is pro-life. So i guess that it's no actual proof, but anyone with the abililty to reason can determine the killer is probably religous. That doesn't matter anyway, imo killing babies at that stage is a good enough reason for killing someone. what i don't understand is why anyone would wait that long to get an abortion anyway.

faulty argument. i can't remember the exact term, but i'll give you an example of why this is flawed.

a) some people are religious, b) it is known that some religious people are pro-life
this must mean that all people who are religious must also be pro-life

You're saying that a) some men like video-games, and b) some men like beer
so a)+b) must mean that all people who like videogames like beer

this is SO not true.

 

[Nmil-ek]

The person who killed that doctor was pro-life, that doesn't mean they were religious, and it's quite ignorant of you to assume they must be.

Is it really though? I bet 99% of pro-lifers will tell you they're like that because "God" says that "life is sacred".
I mean really, what reason could an atheist have to not like abortion (excluding personal experiences)?

Ho ho ho, wait up a second here - this is a "when does life begin" debate, not a religious belief debate.
While it still holds true that life beginning at conception is often coined with roman-catholics, athiests can also believe that life begins at this stage as there is no scientific fact to prove otherwise.

Lets cut out the religion bashing assumption and move on to a more constructive debate, ktnxbye.

Sure, why would any rational atheist support a pro-life movement when we are at a level of planet wde overpopulation the likes of which we cannot afford or sustain.

 

[Ken Korda]

Why has America in recent years under gone this revival of religious extremism.

It hasn't. The extremists are just the ones you hear from, since a headline like "90% of Americans are not religious extremists". It's an issue of statistics. Even if only 1% of Americans were extremists, that's still three million people. And three million extremists can make a lot of noise (figuratively speaking).

There are more people in the EU than in the USA.

I just wondered why we seem to see more of the anit-gay, anti-evolution, anti-abortion style Christians in the US than in Europe? Is it media bias or are there more of these people in America and if so why america and not Europe?

 

[pewpewz]

The person who killed that doctor was pro-life, that doesn't mean they were religious, and it's quite ignorant of you to assume they must be.

Is it really though? I bet 99% of pro-lifers will tell you they're like that because "God" says that "life is sacred".
I mean really, what reason could an atheist have to not like abortion (excluding personal experiences)?

Ho ho ho, wait up a second here - this is a "when does life begin" debate, not a religious belief debate.
While it still holds true that life beginning at conception is often coined with roman-catholics, athiests can also believe that life begins at this stage as there is no scientific fact to prove otherwise.

Lets cut out the religion bashing assumption and move on to a more constructive debate, ktnxbye.

And I'm sure a lot of atheist who believe life begins at conception still don't give a flyin' shit and are pro-abortion anyway.

and i am sure a lot of roman catholics also have abortions...
and a lot of athiests are pro-life.

 

[Ashbax]

*facepalm*

 

[Skeleon]

Honestly, I can't think of anybody but a religious extremist who'd take such an extreme step. Normal people who are pro-life wouldn't resort to killing. Especially considering they are pro-life. This is nothing more than a severe case of vigilantism (based on this person's warped moral view --> an eye for an eye).
As for your question, I have to agree with PlasticTree.
If there's a larger absolute number of religious people in the US than Europe and we assume that the relation between sensible and extremist religious people is similar, it's obvious that the US'd end up with a higher absolute number of extremists.

 

[Nmil-ek]

Why has America in recent years under gone this revival of religious extremism.

It hasn't. The extremists are just the ones you hear from, since a headline like "90% of Americans are not religious extremists". It's an issue of statistics. Even if only 1% of Americans were extremists, that's still three million people. And three million extremists can make a lot of noise (figuratively speaking).

There are more people in the EU than in the USA.

I just wondered why we seem to see more of the anit-gay, anti-evolution, anti-abortion style Christians in the US than in Europe? Is it media bias or are there more of these people in America and if so why america and not Europe?

Fundamentalism is a big factor in that and although I cant speak past the few European countries I know/Britain its not wide spread or well accepted here. Fundamentalists are viewed as extremists by and large, the media portrays that aswell and we have no televangelists. That and all of Europe has already been through centuries of religious war and were kinda tired of it really.

 

[hypothetical fact]

Why has America in recent years under gone this revival of religious extremism.

It hasn't. The extremists are just the ones you hear from, since a headline like "90% of Americans are not religious extremists". It's an issue of statistics. Even if only 1% of Americans were extremists, that's still three million people. And three million extremists can make a lot of noise (figuratively speaking).

There are more people in the EU than in the USA.

I just wondered why we seem to see more of the anit-gay, anti-evolution, anti-abortion style Christians in the US than in Europe? Is it media bias or are there more of these people in America and if so why america and not Europe?

America is a majority christian country with a christian culture so the law of averages means more Christian fundamentalists and less Hindu or Muslim fundamenalists.

 

[pewpewz]

"Sure, why would any rational atheist support a pro-life movement when we are at a level of planet wde overpopulation the likes of which we cannot afford or sustain."

wow... that is so so very closed minded of you.

 

[EMFCRACKSHOT]

Every country has religious extremists.
At leat one is bound to get out of control e very now and again. Whats really stupid though, is that when they do things like this it only serves to help their opponents. It pushes public opinion against them and loses them support

 

[Zamn]

I'm sorry, the people saying America has no more religious extremists than Europe have their heads in the sand. I understand most people on a site like this are likely to have liberal tendencies and they're standing up for their country but it's the unavoidable truth that religion and religious extremism are enormously more prevalent in America than Europe.

A few examples:

40% of Americans do not believe we are descended from other lifeforms. I would consider any creationist a religious extremist.

Atheism is socially unacceptable in much of the United States, a few weeks a poster from Oklahoma said on this forum how he was ostracised, jeered and threatened for not believing in God. This would never happen in Europe, there simply is not enough people who care.

In America, all politicians need to make a show of their faith to have any chance of election. In Europe almost nobody would consider the religion of a candidate relevant. I have never heard it discussed as a campaign issue, I have never heard a politician in my country (Ireland, incidentally one of the most religous countries in Europe) refer to God in a speech.

I don't know why it is that religion is so much stronger in America than it is in Europe, but it's silly to deny that it is.

 

[Pimppeter2]

Sure Judge a WHOLE FUCKIN COUNTRY and a WHOLE FUCKEN RELIGION based on what ONE FUCKEN GUY did.

 

[Internet Kraken]

Religious extremists are not big in America.

Religion is on the decline.

 

[Internet Kraken]

Sure Judge a WHOLE FUCKIN COUNTRY and a WHOLE FUCKEN RELIGION based on what ONE FUCKEN GUY did.

This was the first time I heard about someone being killed over abortion.

Besides the unborn babies.