Uh, Marta, I have to agree with J. Noonan on this one. I am not particularly a fan of Singer's views on infanticide. But, are we really supposed to be impressed that a bunch of jackbooted "pro-lifers" are demanding his resignation from Princeton? I can only say that I hope that the administration at Princeton has enough backbone to stand up to this kind of pressure from these jerks. Barkley Rosser On Fri, 20 Nov 1998 09:21:54 -0800 Marta Russell <ap888 at lafn.org> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Subject: American Bioethics Advisory Commission Demands...
> > Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1998 16:30:57 EST
> > From: AOLNews at aol.com
> >
> > American Bioethics Advisory Commission Demands Resignation Of Princeton
> > Professor
> >
> > WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- "The American Bioethics Advisory Committee
> > is demanding the resignation of Princeton professor of Philosophy Peter
> > Singer," said ABAC president Father Joseph Howard.
> >
> > Dr. Singer has held the appointment of the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of
> > Bioethics at the University Center for Human Values since the fall of this
> > year.
> >
> > Dr. Singer, who is also president of the International Society of Bioethics,
> > is both pro-abortion and pro-infanticide and wrote in his article, Rethinking
> > Life and Death: A New Ethical Approach, "A newborn infant does not have the
> > same right to life as a person and the cultures that practiced infanticide
> > were on solid ground."
> >
> > In the same article, Singer rewrites the 10 Commandments, the first of which
> > reads, "Recognize that the worth of human life varies." The fourth and fifth
> > respectively read, "Bring children into the world only if they are wanted,"
> > and "Do not discriminate on the basis of species."
> >
> > Singer also writes, "Some non-human animals are more like normal human beings
> > than are some seriously damaged members of our own species."
> >
> > "My daughter had intended on applying to Princeton but she will not attend a
> > school that espouses the beliefs of a man who advocates the killing of
> > disabled infants. We'll look for another school and Princeton better take
> > into consideration how many other parents and families will make the same
> > decision," said Erin Alexander of Clearwater, Texas.
> >
> > In his book, Practical Ethics, Singer writes, "Because people are human does
> > not mean that their lives are more valuable than animals."
> >
> > "Apparently Singer believes that we should be able to judge the quality of
> > life for another human," said Howard.
> >
> > "Each and every one of us, including Peter Singer has from 5 to 50 defective
> > sequences of DNA from the moment of fertilization. No member of the human
> > species has a perfect genome. These imperfect sequences, though not always
> > expressed, could over time become active causing disease or pathology. It
> > would seem that Dr. Singer in fact discriminates on the basis of species by
> > the fact that the species in question, the human species, is not perfect."
> > Howard said.
> >
> > "The essence of philosophy is to seek the truth and apply it to our lives.
> > Placing higher value on animal rights than human life is a blatant disregard
> > for the natural law.
> >
> > "Peter Singer is an apostate to philosophy and bioethics and must be removed
> > from his appointment immediately before he causes further harm to Princeton
> > University students seeking truth not relativism.
> >
> > The ABAC is a division of American Life League, and is a commissioned
> > organization of scholars in law, medicine, science and philosophy and Theology
> > for the purpose of developing ethical solutions to questions regarding
> > cloning, contraception, reproductive technologies and brain death.
> >
> > SOURCE American Bioethics Advisory Commission
> >
> > CO: American Bioethics Advisory Commission; American Life League
> >
> > ST: District of Columbia, New Jersey
> >
> > IN: HEA
> >
> > SU:
> >
> > 11/19/98 16:30 EST http://www.prnewswire.com
> >
> > To edit your profile, go to keyword <A HREF="aol://1722:NewsProfiles">
> > NewsProfiles</A>.
> > For all of today's news, go to keyword <A HREF="aol://1722:News">News</A>.
>
>
>
-- Rosser Jr, John Barkley rosserjb at jmu.edu