Theos-Talk Archives (May 2002 Message tt00115)

leonmaurer@aol.com wrote:
> 
> Good moral/ethical question. We'll think about it (although much more data
> is needed to make a properly considered judgment). But, this "example" has
> nothing to do with what the initial 2nd question intended us to think about
> (e.g., with respect to a tendency to judge people's overall character based
> on disconnected bits of specific positive or negative facts about them). The
> questions were perfectly valid in that context.

More generally, it can be thought of as a question of karma. The "two
questions" asked people to make judgments based on a limited number of
carefully edited facts. The correct answer to both is, "If this is all
the information I have, I am not qualified to make a decision." In the
abortion question, there is a secondary part: Would one recommend that
ANYBODY get an abortion? I had stated that I would never recommend that
anybody get an abortion; that is not entirely correct. But the ONLY
times I would recommend that somebody get an abortion would be in the
extreme cases where the life of the mother is in danger, or the fetus is
not viable, or something similar (for example, I know a young woman who,
if she gives birth again, will never walk again. She has had her tubes
tied, but there IS a failure rate. If she becomes pregnant, I would
leave it up to her whether or not she wishes to make the sacrifice, but
if the fetus had a condition that would limit its life to only a few
years, I would suggest abortion). The question is whether or not the
personal karma generated by having the abortion is greater than the
personal karma generated by giving birth. For the most part, it is not a
question I am qualified to answer, and doing so would generate more
personal karma for me than it would for the mother (although giving the
mother factual information would serve to reduce the total amount of
personal karma generated). 

One of the strengths of the political system in the United States is
that it is more karma-based than a pure democracy would be. By electing
representatives for terms of office, those making the decisions are not
only responsible for those decisions, but, to a certain extent, they are
responsible for the RESULTS of those decisions. There have been numerous
times where a politician has made an unpopular decision, only to be
redeemed by the results. In a pure democracy, at our current level of
evolution, making decisions without looking at the consequences would
have been disastrous. 

Bart Lidofsky