Sermons, Bible Studies, Theology, Prophecy, and Church Issues. 1999. Web. 27
Sept. 2010.
http://www.spreadinglight.com/contemporary/cloning.html.
Cloning is among one of the most controversal ideas of modern life. This article focuses on the conflicting religious beliefs and the pursuit of knowledge through science. There are three kinds of cloning (that we know of thus far anyway): embryonic cloning, adult DNA cloning, and therapeutic cloning. Therapeutic cloning causes religious conflict because of disputes as to when an embryo is considered human life (therapeutic cloning is used to harvest stem cells from fertilized eggs). Also, there is no specific verse in the Bible that says "Thou shalt not make a duplicate of thyself" (or something to that affect). There is uncertainty that cloned beings may age prematurely, which is expressed when the author types that "If scientists clone a human and their body acts like it is middle aged when the child is only a teenager and dies of “old age” at 30, it would be an atrocity." The ethics of cloning is one of the easily recognized themes of Brave New World. From the very beginning, the extent of how important cloning is in their society is heavily stressed. There is the idea that being not only physically but genetically identical is essential to "stability" in a society.
Savage, By Leo. "Savage Thoughts -- Moral Decay in American Society." The Shore's Home Page. Web. 11 Oct. 2010..
Savage, By Leo. "Savage Thoughts -- Moral Decay in American Society." The Shore's Home Page. Web. 11 Oct. 2010.
This article deals mainly with the decay in sex morals of our society. Many children "become extremely agitated on seeing their parents act affectionately towards one another." The author suggests that if parents were more open in the shows of affection, children wouldn't find such acts as being so odd. Also, Leo also suggests that "since parents do hide their sexual natures from their children, children do not associate sex with parenthood." This leads to the high teenage abortion rate due to this inability to make connections between the two. There is a deep lack of morals in the book Brave New World. The use of drugs, debauchery, abortion, and loose sex are not only allowed in their society, but are encouraged. One idea I tied from this article to Brave New World is that the author is suggests we make our children more acceptant to parents openly showing affection for one another but what if this led to your child feeling more comfortable in expressing all such emotions with everyone? This leads me to think of the "everyone belongs to everyone else" saying in Brave New World.
Savage, By Leo. "Savage Thoughts -- Abortion." The Shore's Home Page. Web. 11 Oct. 2010. .
Abortion is another big topic that many people have different views about. In this article, Leo states that he believes that the prochoicers have won because the prolifers have become desperate and "developed a 'lunatic fringe' that has descended to terrorist tactics to get their point across." The author provides a "very simple answer" to the problem of abortion. He suggests that "anyone who wants to can stop another person from getting an abortion, provided that they adopt the child in the womb and assume all medical bills." This seems like a simple solution, so long as the prolifers are willing to hold up their own moral standing personally. The world of Brave New World has few morals and abortion is not spared this immorality. Women take pills so that they do not have children and have abortions so that there is no "mother and father" family in their society. The director becomes so upset over learning that he has a son that he resigns from his position.
Savage, By Leo. "Savage Thoughts -- The Drug Problem." The Shore's Home Page. Web. 11 Oct. 2010. .
The debate on whether to legalize drugs such as marijuana and heroin has many sides to it. This article proposes that "hard drugs be made legal but restricted." He explains that making these substances available only to adults and making them sign for the drug would "kick the economic foundation right out from under an entire criminal class." I have to disagree with the author. If the hard drugs were legalized, and made so that only adults could buy them from stores, what keeps corrupt or irresponsible adults from turning around and selling those drugs to minors? In Brave New World, soma is the drug and it is expected to be used. Soma is very much like the hard drugs of our time. If we let our morals about drugs go, what keeps us from letting go more of our morals and becoming that much more like Brave New World?
"WalesOnline - News - Wales News - Brits Top World for Their Loose Sex Morals."WalesOnline - Wales News, Welsh Business News, Jobs in Wales. Web. 11 Oct. 2010. .
This article contains simple statistics such as how many people said it was normal for a person in their thirties to have had 10 or more lovers during their single years. "More than one in 10 - 11% - of both men and women in Britain said they were tolerant of affairs which 'cause pain to neither party'". In Brave New World "everyone belongs to everyone else", which means there are not any long-term relationships or faithfulness to one person. These statistics suggest that quite a few (about half) of people say that having numerous short-term yet intimate relationships are normal. This statement sounds a little too similar to Brave New World's ideas about the relationships of individuals. Also, the statistic about being "tolerant of affairs which 'cause pain to neither party'" particularly worries me for the same reason.
