QuickiesReligion

Skepchick Quickies 2.20

  • Two sexes “sin in different ways” – A new Catholic survey has found that women report pride as their most frequent sin while men have issues with lust and gluttony.  Thanks Russell.
  • Catholics crusade against a mythical bill -  “There is only one hitch. Congress isn’t about to pass the Freedom of Choice Act — because no such bill has been introduced in the current Congress.” Thanks QuestionAuthority.
  • New movie with an atheist superhero – “One of the four stories takes place in Meanwhile City, a weird Blade Runner-esque place where you’re required by law to believe in a religion – any religion – and an atheist superhero named Preest (Ryan Philippe) flouts the religious authorities.”
  • Anti-abortion measure says fertilized egg is human – “A bill approved by the North Dakota House says a fertilized human egg has all the rights of a human being.”  Well, then, pretty much every sexually active woman is guilty of flushing a human being down the toilet, considering the rate at which fertilized eggs do not become pregnancies.  From Nicole.
  • Boy, do we ever need cute animal Friday after that bunch!  Lena found a video of a monkey adopted by pigs.  Steve, in his neverending quest for cute, found a bucket of baby owls that begs to be LOLowled.  And I have for you tawny frogmouth chicks which look like adorable dustbunnies with eyes.

Amanda

Amanda works in healthcare, is a loudmouthed feminist, and proud supporter of the Oxford comma.

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26 Comments

  1. Idiots.

    What does that imply for the poor woman that is forced to undergo a hysterectomy but keeps her ovaries? Every month, she will ovulate and if sexually active, could conceive. But since there’s no uterus, there’s nowhere for the egg to implant (except the fallopian tubes, which is a dangerous ectopic pregnancy).

    Re: Catholic church: At least it keeps the church ladies off the streets. Not as effective as bingo, though. ;-)

  2. From the linked article:

    “The measure says North Dakota law and the state constitution should consider anything with a single human cell as a human being, with the rights that a human being has.”

    This would be very bad news for my cell culture experiments!

  3. “The measure says North Dakota law and the state constitution should consider anything with a single human cell as a human being, with the rights that a human being has.”

    I just cut myself. Now there’s a piece of bloody gauze in my garbage can with the rights of a human being.

    I’m such a murderer.

  4. And just like that ND has completely crippled their medical system. No more blood donations, no more biopsies, no more DNA testing, no more blood samples. Because every single one of these kills human cells and is, according to the wording of the bill, murder.

  5. Some other pending proclamations of science from the ND legislature:
    – the value of pi is 5
    – Pluto is a gas giant
    – the Loch Ness Monster built Stone Henge
    – rainbows are caused but sunlight reflecting off unicorn horns
    – dinosaur fossils were created by 19th century surrealist sculptors
    – every time a child gets an MMR vaccine, God drowns a baby kitten

  6. The thing about sins is right for men definitely, Lust and Gluttony are my favourites.

    I’m very Proud of this (am I showing my feminine side here)

  7. Anything with a human cell is ‘human’ with the rights thereof? Wow – regular Einstiens this lot.

    I guess the ND’s are not permitted to have a shower or bath anymore, as doing so would hurt innocent skin and hair cells. No more mass murdering soap and shampoo usage!

    And no more cancer removal either – cancer is human too! Equal rights for cancer!

    And would to population have to take immunosupressants to prevent harm to humans? Those nasty T-cells are killers after all. Or would it fall under self mutilation? But immunosupressants also cause harm? What to do, what to do?

  8. “anything with a single human cell as a human being, with the rights that a human being has”

    So, if a cat bites a human and swallows a few skin cells…

  9. First of all, Steve, (at #8), I know you’re being snarky, but the hard truth is that every time a child gets any type of vaccination God does drown a little, baby kitten.

    Second, did anyone else see a sort of family resemblance between the tawny frogmouth chicks and Oscar the Grouch?

  10. Sheesh. I guess that I don’t dare scratch an itch in ND. I might off some skin cells and find myself afoul of the law.

  11. Just take a dump on the ND state capital building steps. Sure to be some viable colon cells in the pile needing the full protection of ND law.

  12. So, wait. In this ND thing, there’s 2 conflicting quotes.

    1. A bill approved by the North Dakota House says a fertilized human egg has all the rights of a human being.

    2. The measure says North Dakota law and the state constitution should consider anything with a single human cell as a human being, with the rights that a human being has.

    Just wanted to know which is right, since there’s a big difference between the number of times I’ve menstrated versus the times I’ve taken a shower and such. It might be the difference between a decade in jail or a life in prison. :P

  13. I may be mistaken here, but didn’t ND try a very similar law in the (I think) 2006 election cycle?

    As my incredibly perfect memory with no flaws whatsoever recalls, they were able to pass a resolution that outlawed all abortions. It was later struck down as being unconstitutional, and a lot of North Dakotans were ravingly-mad that no matter how many votes they could muster, the constitution was immune to the popular culture.

    This smacks of legislators just changing the wording to try and get around that document that they seem to hate more than anything.

  14. Know what sucks? I almost moved to ND right after high school. My AMAZING grandmother lives there (it’s where my mom was born and raised). :(

    She’d NEVER vote for something like this, though. She’s way too smart for that!

  15. I suspect that this bill will fall on its face as soon as it’s challenged, just like the last version.

  16. From the Bill (pdf),

    “Human being” means an individual living member of the species of homo sapiens,
    including the unborn human being during the entire embryonic and fetal ages from
    fertilization to full gestation

    and

    The abortion will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living
    human being.

    These are the only additions that will be made to the existing abortion law in ND.

    It’s an odious Bill for sure, but it’s not granting full human rights to a zygote, blastocyst, embryo or fetus, let alone to all the matterial that has been suggested will now have full human rights.

  17. @Stephen: Thanks for the clarification. But it does day from “fertilization”. Still makes it sound like it’s going further than what they are meaning (after implantation and becoming an embryo).

    Now I’ve got “Every Sperm is Sacred” stuck in my head.

  18. Yes, Stepehen, thanks for the clarification. I was meaning to track down the actual bill because I assumed the article was oversimplifying a bit. I think this illustrates a problem we have in society now, which is that individuals don’t track down and read the bills and ballot measures on which they vote. Who really has time, right? I certainly don’t track down every piece of legislation. Even politicians don’t carefully read them. So, the public understanding of these things is usually limited to that gained from articles like this one. I would guess though, that even having read only the article we did, many people still would have supported the measure, without thinking about the numerous other potential implications of every human “cell” being granted human rights.

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