THE INTERNATIONAL 4EULAR HUMANIIST MAGAZINE
A UNIVERSE WITHOUT GOD t j ASTRONOMER ALAN HALE Co-discoverer of Comet Hale-Bopp on the rich but ungoverned universe science reveals s and s VICTOR STENGER on New Age Physics Comq Haie-Bopp THE MORAL CASE FOR ABORTION t Henry Morgentaler j comments by Nat Hentoff Joan Kennedy Taylor Skipp Porteous and others Now published by the 62> NEW RELIGIOUS POLL
11 7 5 274 74957 7 ON WHAT AMERICANS BELIEV
SUMMER 1996, VOL. 16, NO. 3 ISSN 0272-0701 !ree InIL-lu ~5y
Editor: Paul Kurtz Executive Editor: Timothy J. Madigan Contents Managing Editor: Andrea Szalanski Senior Editors: Vern Bullough, Thomas W. Flynn, R. Joseph Hoffmann, Gerald Larue, Gordon Stein 3 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Contributing Editors: Robert S. Alley, Joe E. Barnhart, David Berman, 4 The Unlimited Cosmos—A Personal Odyssey Alan Hale H. James Birx, Jo Ann Boydston, Paul Edwards, Albert Ellis, Roy P. Fairfield, Charles W. Faulkner, 7 New Age Physics: Has Science Found the Path Antony Flew, Levi Fragell, Adolf Grünbaum, Marvin Kohl, Jean Kotkin, Thelma Lavine, Tibor Machan, to the Ultimate? Victor J. Stenger Ronald A. Lindsay, Michael Martin, Delos B. McKown, Lee Nisbet, John Novak, Skipp Porteous, Howard Radest, Robert Rimmer, Michael Rockier, 12 "We Need a Miracle!" Art Buchwald Svetozar Stojanovié, Thomas Szasz, V. M. Tarkunde, Richard Taylor, Rob Tielman 12 Paul Cadmus: Artist-Humanist Warren Allen Smith Associate Editors: Molleen Matsumura, Lois Porter 14 In Honor of Bonnie Bullough Gerald A. Larue Editorial Associates: 15 Bonnie Bullough 1927-1996 Paul Kurtz Doris Doyle, Thomas Franczyk, Roger Greeley, James Martin-Diaz, Steven L. Mitchell, Warren 16 The Abortion Debate Vern L. Bullough Allen Smith Cartoonist: Don Addis 17 The Moral Case for Abortion Henry Morgentaler Council for Secular Humanism: 23 Secret Files Menace Doctors Skipp Porteous Chairman: Paul Kurtz Chief Operating Officer: Timothy J. Madigan 24 Abortion Is the Issue from Hell Foster Digby Executive Director: Matt Cherry Chief Development Officer: James Kimberly 28 What Do These Fetuses Want? Nat Hentoff Public Relations Director: Norm R. Allen, Jr. President, Academy of Humanism: Paul Kurtz 29 The Abortion Issue and Selecting a Executive Director, Secular Organizations for Criterion of "Life" Noel W Smith Sobriety: James Christopher Chief Data Officer: Richard Seymour 30 In Support of the Right to Choose Joan Kennedy Taylor Fulfillment Manager: Michael Cione 31 Defend Abortion, Not Just Choice Thomas W. Flynn Typesetting: Paul E. Loynes, Sr. Graphic Designer: Jacqueline Cooke Audio Technician: Vance Vigrass 34 Religious Belief in America: A New Poll Staff: Georgeia Locurcio, Anthony Nigro, Etienne Ríos, 40 It Is Hard to Believe Herbert Tonne Ranjit Sandhu 41 Religious Beliefs of Scientists: Executive Director Emeritus: Jean Millholland A Survey of the Research Gerald R. Bergman FREE INQUIRY (ISSN 0272-0701) is published quarterly by the Council for Secular Humanism, a nonprofit cor- poration, 3965 Rensch Road, Amherst, NY 14228-2713. 46 Religion and Crime: Phone (716) 636-7571. Fax (716) 636-1733. Copyright ©1996 by the Council for Secular Humanism. Second- Do They Go Together? Lisa Conyers and Philip D. Harvey class postage paid at Amherst, N.Y., and at additional mailing offices. National distribution by International Periodicals Distributors, Solana Beach, California. FREE POST-MARXISM AND HUMANISM INQUIRY is available from University Microfilms and is 49 indexed in Philosophers' Index. Printed in the United The Survival of Humankind Is the Basic Humanist Value: States. An Interview with Svetozar Stojanovic Paul Kurtz Subscription rates: $28.50 for one year, $47.50 for two 55 The Hard Course of Humanism in China Lei Yong-Sheng years, $64.50 for three years. $6.95 for single issues. Address subscription orders, changes of address, and advertising to FREE INQUIRY, P.O. Box 664, Amherst, 57 REVIEWS NY 14226-0664. God: A Life, Robert Gorham Davis / Books in Brief Postmaster: Send address changes to FREE INQUIRY„ P.O. Box 664, Amherst, NY 14226-0664.
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in this? Who is the more moral: he who treats others fairly because he empathizes Letters to the Editor with their rights or he who does so for per- sonal gain (in order to be "properly rewarded" in Frame's words)?
Do We Need God to Be Moral? Spring 1996.) This subject seems to be Joe B. Gilbert another example of, "If it ain't broke, Houston, Tex. John M. Frame, Christian apologist and don't fix it": Be content that the other per- theologian, is misinformed, arrogant, and son is moral, without worrying about why Why is it necessary to have such a heavy sadly mistaken in contending that he thinks that he should be. philosophical discussion about whether "Without God, Anything Is Permitted" people need God to be moral? Let us look ("Do We Need God to be Moral?"FI, John G. Fletcher at the practice. After all there have been Spring 1996). History, current events, and Livermore, Calif. quite a few atheists all through a large part our prison population refute this claim of recorded history—for instance the and show that incredibly evil and abhor- What the debate between John Frame and Confucians and the Buddhists. I may be rent actions also can be committed and Paul Kurtz did for me was to confirm missing something, but I am not aware justified by God believers. Evidently, Mr. once more that religion warps your mind. that their morals are any worse nor any Frame thinks that the Bible provides us Apparently Frame doesn't seem to under- better than those of mono- or polytheists with an absolute code of ethics for all stand that the Bible (from which he of whatever kind. time. We need to remember that the Bible derives both his God and his absolute eth- Or take a more recent example: The is a product of a primitive culture 2,000 to ical values) has been used throughout the Dutch crime statistics. Even after com- 3,000 years ago. While it contains wis- ages to justify everything from slavery to pensation for their somewhat lower edu- dom and inspiration, it also contains much genocide, misogyny to child abuse, and cational level and therefore somewhat in the name of God that is repugnant, bar- other delectable absolute Christian ethics. lower average income as compared with baric, vulgar, and dangerous... . What is even worse—the biblical justifi- the unbelievers, the Christians are still Morals should be based on what is ben- cations are correct! .. . overrepresented in our prison population. eficial and least hurtful to people in this I note with pleasure that the And our parole boards are not dominated life on Earth, not on obedience to the sup- Archbishop of Canterbury has recently by the Christians any more. posed commands of an imaginary, all- stated, "I don't believe you have to be Of course, not everybody in prison is powerful god because of rewards and religious or Christian to be good." In view necessarily immoral. Think of total objec- penalties in an imaginary afterlife. of the Archbishop's sudden enlighten- tors to military service; they are still ment, perhaps Mr. Frame should address jailed, although conscription has been Arthur Engvall his archaic views to him in the hopes of abolished. There is some time between the Cupertino, Calif. bringing him back into the fold of rejected objection and the actual convic- absolute Christian ethics. tion. Certainly not all people out of jail are By acknowledging that "atheists and examples of morality, but as a rough com- agnostics recognize moral standards" Dr. Eric T. Pengelley parison it is not all that bad. Just imagine Frame concedes that the answer to the Professor Emeritus what the believers would have made of debated question, "Do We Need God to be Evolution and Ecology DBS these statistics if the result would have Moral?," is no. (By also acknowledging University of California been the other way around! that theists are sometimes immoral, he Davis, Calif. concedes that God is insufficient, as well Marie P. Prins as unnecessary, for morality.) His argu- John M. Frame says "When people accept Oost—Souburg ment is devoted entirely to trying to con- moral principles without good reason, The Netherlands vince non-theists that the reasons that they they hold to them somewhat more loosely give for their morality are unsound (which than others who accept them upon a ratio- If, when we're young, we test the limits of could be construed as an effort to promote nal basis." (Frame's rational basis, by the and learn from experience what is right their immorality). In the same way his way, is God.) The presumption is that my and wrong, we have a solid foundation on opponents would argue (if the question convictions are not as strong as his which to base our adult life, our integra- had been raised) that the morality of the- because they are not based on his reasons. tion with society. If we rely on somebody ists is without reason, since there is no I find this specious and offensive. else's rules and absolute enforcement we proof of God's existence or of what prin- Frame does submit, inadvertently I deny our inquisitive nature, and we will ciples He supports. (Even theists may dif- think, one sound reason for his morality: it always be tempted to test that which we fer regarding the latter, as Paul Kurtz makes good sense to act morally if you haven't learned from experience. Frame points out in "The Common Moral believe that you will be severely punished Decencies Don't Depend on Faith," FI, for failure to do so. But where is the virtue (Continued on p. 60)
Summer 1996 3
The Unlimited Cosmos A Personal Odyssey
Alan Hale
When I heard the learn'd astronomer; the center of the universe, we've also studied the processes of When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me; nature; and, while we're a long way from understanding every- When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them; thing that goes on around us, we've learned that there is no need When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with to invoke supernatural forces as an explanation for the phenom- much applause in the lecture-room, ena we see. How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick; Although all the sciences have played a major role in this de- Till rising and gliding out, I wander'd off by myself, centralization, it is perhaps astronomy more any other that has In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars. brought this "lesson in humility" down upon us. During the past two thousand years we've progressed from the idea that the —Walt Whitman, from Leaves of Grass (1865) Earth—as it was known at the time—was the center of all cre- ation, to the realization that the Earth is only one of a set of nine ith a Ph.D. in astronomy, I suppose I can be consid- planets, together with several smaller objects, orbiting a rather ered a "learn'd astronomer," and indeed I spend a lot Wof my time in front of a computer terminal, poring "The idea that we on the Earth hold some over "the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them." But I am not one to forget what drew me to the field in type of privileged position within the uni- the first place; from my youngest days I have spent innumerable verse, or that one particular group of indi- hours looking up "in perfect silence at the stars," and I continue viduals on this planet holds a supernaturally to do so to this day. In my view, these two approaches to astron- omy—indeed, to all sciences—are complementary; while I will ordained privileged position over its other always enjoy the spectacle of a star-studded night for its own inhabitants, is recognized for the absurdity sake, it is the hours, years, and decades that I and other that it must be." astronomers have spent unraveling the secrets of the cosmos that give true meaning to that spectacle. It was natural, if perhaps slightly egotistical, for the earliest obscure star that is only one of several hundred billion similar human beings to believe that the universe consisted of their own stars contained within the Milky Way galaxy, itself only one of immediate surroundings, and that the various happenings in several hundred billion other galaxies scattered throughout the nature occurred at the whims of various supernatural entities; universe. With this view, the idea that we on the Earth hold some elaborate belief systems were constructed for the purpose of try- type of privileged position within the universe, or that one par- ing to convince these entities to produce one series of actions in ticular group of individuals on this planet holds a supernaturally lieu of others. Each scientific discovery, beginning with the fact ordained privileged position over its other inhabitants, is recog- that another tribe of humans lived on the other side of the moun- nized for the absurdity that it must be. However much we may tains, has tended to remove this egocentrism from our collective not like it, our Earth, and we, its inhabitants, are trivially belief. As Carl Sagan so eloquently stated in his book Pale Blue insignificant compared to the universe as a whole, and thus our Dot (Random House, 1994), "modern science has been a voyage personal interactions, our collective morality and, by conse- into the unknown, with a lesson in humility waiting at every quence, our progress beyond where we are today, can only be stop." While we've been engaged in removing ourselves from derived from our own collective conscience. This view of the cosmos tells us that there is no universe-spanning entity that is Alan Hale is director of the Southwest Institute for Space going to take the trouble to visit this tiny remote dot in space and Research, an independent research and educational organization tell us how to live; we have to figure that out for ourselves. based in Cloudcroft, New Mexico. He is the co-discoverer of Along these lines, then, I'd like to look at three recent astro- Comet Hale-Bopp, which should become a spectacular celestial nomical discoveries that can and should play a significant role in object during the the spring of 1997. how we view ourselves within the cosmos as a whole. The first two are major discoveries in their own right and only serve to
4 FREE INQUIRY increase the process of de-centralization that has been going on from each other) in some of other most basic characteristics. This for the past several centuries. The third, while understandably implies, in turn, that there isn't even anything unique about the important to me personally, cannot rank with the other two in overall gross structure of our solar system; it would seem, once terms of its overall importance; however, I believe it provides an again, that there is nothing special about our system, but that important vehicle for those of us who understand our place solar systems can come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and that within the cosmos to share this with our fellow human beings, ours embodies only one particular kind of example. and to introduce them to the wonders embodied by the "perfect As our science progresses and our techniques improve, it is silence" of the stars. reasonable to expect that at some point in the not-too-distant future we will find that, indeed, most of the stars around us have Other Solar Systems their own system of planets accompanying them. Although our experience with the recent discoveries suggests that this will not e've known of most of the planets within our own solar be true everywhere, it is certainly possible that around some of Wsystem for centuries, but all of of these objects accompany these stars we will find planets somewhat similar to our own and orbit around one specific star, our sun. But since the sun is Earth and, perhaps on these other "Earths" or perhaps even in only one of innumerable other stars throughout the universe, does it not stand to reason that many, if not most or even all, of those other stars also have planets orbiting around them? As "In the long run, if we can convince our fel- likely and reasonable as such a scenario might seem, until fairly low human beings that the sights we see in recently we did not possess the technology necessary to verify (or disprove) it. the heavens—even something as wondrous as All this, however, is starting to change, and we have now dis- Comet Hale-Bopp will hopefully turn out to covered that some of the other stars with which we share the cos- be—are purely natural phenomena, and that mos are indeed accompanied by planets of their own. The first other solar system was discovered in what could probably be there is no need to invoke any supernatural considered one of the most unlikeliest of places: around a pulsar, or mystical elements as an explanation, then the shattered remnant of what was once a star far more massive we will have taken a significant step toward than our sun. This discovery, made with the Arecibo radio tele- scope in Puerto Rico and announced by Alex Wolszczan in preparing our society to deal responsibly 1992—and verified with additional observations over the subse- with the technological and ethical issues with quent two years—tells us that planets can form under some of which it will be confronted during the the most extreme and hostile environments imaginable, and implies that planetary formation should be a rather common- twenty-first century." place occurrence in the more benign environments that accom- pany stars more like the sun. (Since Wolszczan's announcement, what we might consider a less likely environment, we will find potential planetary systems have been reported around one or some indications that life has sprouted elsewhere. One thing two other pulsars, although none of these reports has been con- seems almost certain: whatever we find will contain numerous firmed as of yet.) surprises, and each discovery will serve to show that we are even Finally, during the past few months we've seen reports that less unique than we ever thought we were. some of the more normal stars in our own neighborhood are indeed accompanied by planets. Last October came the report Galaxies and Galaxies Galore from Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz of the Geneva Observatory that the ordinary sunlike star 51 Pegasi is accompa- eeing is believing; while we've been saying for some time nied by a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting fairly close in. Just this 10 that there are about as many galaxies throughout the universe past January came the announcement by Geoff Marcy and Paul as there are stars within our galaxy, it's nice to have real obser- Butler (of San Francisco State University) that two more sunlike vational evidence to back this up. And now we have it; the so- stars-70 Virginis and 47 Ursae Majoris—also are accompanied called Hubble Deep Field (HDF), taken with the Hubble Space by planets that are not much larger than Jupiter. Since both these Telescope over a ten-day period in December 1995, shows teams of astronomers—along with several others—are examin- galaxies upon galaxies upon galaxies stretching as far out in the ing numerous other stars as part of their respective search pro- universe, and as far back in time, as we can imagine. The HDF grams, it is entirely possible that additional planets will be was exposed in a seemingly "blank" region of the sky slightly to reported by the time this article reaches its readers. the north of the Big Dipper's handle, and represents an area of These discoveries tell us several things. First, more or less as sky smaller than can be resolved with the unaided human eye. At we expected, other solar systems do appear to be relatively com- least 1,500 individual galaxies—many of which are far beyond mon throughout the universe, and thus there is nothing particu- the grasp of any Earthbound telescope—have been counted larly unique about our own system. At the same time, none of within this tiny slice of sky, and if we assume that this is repre- these other systems would be mistaken for a "carbon copy" of sentative of the universe as a whole—and we have every reason our system; all of them differ significantly from our system (and for believing so—then indeed the universe contains the unac-
Summer 1996 5 sky has often generated immense fear and trembling among many segments of Earthbound humanity, and on numerous occa- sions has been taken to be a sign of divine wrath and/or a portent of future catastrophic events. Even in our supposedly more enlightened society of the late twentieth century, such beliefs continue to take hold, and I have already seen several bizarre predictions as to what Hale-Bopp portends for our planet. Some of these border on the ridiculous—e.g., the comet is an alien mothership, or is at least under the control of aliens, and will strike the Earth unless we agree to be their slaves from now on— but I have also seen some more "serious" statements as to what Hale-Bopp's appearance might mean. In particular, I have seen or heard of several claims that the comet's appearance was fore- told in several prophecies—for example, within the writings of Nostradamus—and heralds some particular dire travails our planet will experience within the forthcoming few years. I am also aware that several Christian fundamentalists have pro- claimed that Comet Hale-Bopp may be one of the "signs of the end times" that are foretold within the biblical book of Revelation. The comet is none of this; it will be a temporary and—we hope—spectacular addition to our nighttime skies during the first few months of 1997, but that is all it will be. I believe, how- ever, that Comet Hale-Bopp presents an unprecedented opportu- nity for the scientists and the scientifically literate in our society to show one of the natural—not supernatural—wonders of the night sky with the rest of the public. I have reason to believe that countable billions of galaxies that we have been postulating all some segments of that public may in fact be ready for such a along. demonstration. For example, as I finish this article, the night sky I urge readers to examine the HDF image and to pick out one is aglow with the light of another comet, Comet Hyakutake. This of those tiny dim smudges for a closer look. That tiny, unre- object, discovered by a Japanese amateur astronomer at the end markable patch of light is in actuality a galaxy, more or less the of January, is currently in the process of making a close approach same size as our own, containing up to several hundred billion to the Earth, and for the time being is putting on a spectacular individual stars. It is far enough away that the light we see on this shown in our northern sky. I'm somewhat gratified to see the image took several billion years to get here. When we consider public interest that is being directed toward this object, and the that this scene would be repeated almost ad infinitum throughout lack of mystical prognostications concerning it—although this the entire vault of the heavens, we begin to realize just how large may well be due to the short lead time we had. If we can capi- the universe really is, and how insignificant is our own little cor- talize on this interest, then the potential for an increased appre- ner of it. If there is any recent discovery in astronomy that serves ciation for science among the public could be realized. to give us our "lesson in humility," the Hubble Deep Field is it. In the long run, if we can convince our fellow human beings that the sights we see in the heavens—even something as won- Comet Hale-Bopp: Signs in the Night Sky drous as Comet Hale-Bopp will hopefully turn out to be—are purely natural phenomena, and that there is no need to invoke ne night last July, while taking a break from one of my rou- any supernatural or mystical elements as an explanation, then we Otine astronomical observational programs, I was fortunate will have taken a significant step toward preparing our society to enough to discover a new comet. While comet discoveries are deal responsibly with the technological and ethical issues with normally not too big of a deal—up to a dozen or more are dis- which it will be confronted during the twenty-first century. If, covered every year—this comet has turned out to be a most inter- through the appearance of objects such as Comets Hyakutake esting and unusual object. Comet Hale-Bopp—named after and Hale-Bopp, we can bring our society closer to the true sig- myself and an amateur astronomer in Arizona, Thomas Bopp, nificance that is embodied within the first two discoveries I who discovered it at about the same time I did—appears to be talked about above, then we and future generations will stand to intrinsically one of the largest and brightest comets that has ever reap enormous benefits from a more enlightened and scientifi- been seen. When it makes its closest approach to the sun in April cally literate public. This is an ambitious goal, to be sure, but one 1997 it may well be one of the most spectacular comets that has I believe we can't afford not to strive toward. The time is ripe for appeared during this century, very possibly outshining even the such an effort, and I urge all freethinkers and rationalists who are brightest stars in our nighttime sky. reading this to work together with me toward bringing this to Throughout history, the appearance of a bright comet in the pass. •
6 FREE INQUIRY
New Age Physics: Has Science Found the Path to the Ultimate?
RIM= 'NNW Victor J. Stenger
Quantum Metaphysics across space, in apparent violation of Einstein's assertion that nothing can move faster than light. Furthermore, quantum any people have come to look to science to solve all mechanics is construed as requiring the action of human con- their problems. Worried about nuclear missiles? Let sciousness to bring physical events into existence. The popular Mscience build a shield. Fretting about running out of literature abounds with this theme as New Agers of every stripe, oil? Science will find us an endless source of energy, perhaps from psychics to astrologers to physicists and cosmologists, pro- cold nuclear fusion. Too little food? Science will grow more. Too claim the oneness of human mind and the fabric of the cosmos. many people on Earth? Science will launch them into space. Too The notion of a holistic universe, with everything instanta- much pollution? Science will find a way to clean it up. Sick? neously connected to everything else, occurs in a number of Science will heal you. Feeling depressed because you are going interpretations of quantum mechanics. In one class of interpreta- to die someday? Science will find a way for you to live forever, tions, still-undetected sub-quantum forces operate on particles to if not by medical means, then perhaps by confirming your deeply determine their microscopic motion.2 Theory and experiment felt belief that your selfhood is intimately connected to the very strongly assert that these forces, if they exist, necessarily must fabric of reality. act instantaneously over any distance. But neither theory nor How wonderful that science makes our lives so comfortable. experiment require that such sub-quantum forces exist. Their And how wonderful that science has finally confirmed our long- existence is pure speculation. held belief that human consciousness is the driving force behind In another class of interpretations, the quantum wave function the universe itself! does not "collapse" to its final form until someone makes a mea- Quantum mechanics is arguably the greatest scientific theory surement. In that case, human consciousness controls the course ever invented. It has provided us with many of the tools of mod- of events throughout all of space and time. In these interpreta- ern technology, while describing matter at its most fundamental tions, the universe is one and we are one with it.' level. Some believe that quantum mechanics has done even Undoubtedly, quantum mechanics has had difficulty in gain- more, demonstrating that an act of human consciousness at one ing a consensus on how it should be interpreted—or even that it point in space can instantaneously cause a material system to need be interpreted at all, so long as its mathematics gives change its behavior, indeed its very nature, at a distant point in answers that agree with experiment. A detailed discussion and space—even across the universe. And not just instantaneously. comparison of the various interpretations is beyond the scope of Human consciousness, it is said, can cause changes at other this article' Suffice it to say that many interpretations have been points in space even before the thoughts occur.' After all, proposed that lead to the same empirical results, and so are indis- thoughts are part of the unbroken wholeness of all existence. The tinguishable except by their ontological assumptions. Without mind exists throughout all space and time. It always existed, and experiments to adjudicate between rival claims, it becomes always will exist. somewhat a matter of taste which interpretation one prefers. In This is the profound implication that many believe to follow this situation, the only rational procedure is to apply Occam's from quantum phenomena. Experiments have been performed razor and reject those interpretations that are less economical that are misinterpreted as requiring instantaneous connections than the others, and to pragmatically adopt those remaining that are the most useful. Not all interpretations of quantum mechanics are equally eco- Victor J. Stenger is professor of physics and astronomy at the nomical, or equally useful. For example, those interpretations University of Hawaii and the author of Not By Design: The that claim that human consciousness determines the nature of Origin of the Universe (Prometheus Books, 1988) and Physics reality are not parsimonious since this bizarre notion is not and Psychics: The Search for a World Beyond the Senses required by a scrap of reliable data. Likewise, the interpretations (Prometheus Books, 1990). This article is based on his latest that invoke deterministic sub-quantum forces are grossly non- book: The Unconscious Quantum: Metaphysics in Modern economical, proposing as they do invisible holistic entities hav- Physics and Cosmology (Prometheus Books, 1995). ing superluminal connections for which no empirical evidence exists, and furthermore violate Einstein's relativity, which has
Summer 1996 7 late, all the thinking processes of human beings. He summarizes "Non-superluminal, `un-conscious' interpre- his position as follows: "Appropriate physical action of the brain evokes awareness, but this physical action cannot ever be prop- tations of quantum mechanics have been pro- erly simulated computationally."9 posed that are fully consistent with all obser- Penrose is careful to distance himself from the view that vations and established principles of physics, awareness is not amenable to scientific study and thus must be mystical or supernatural. He says: "I reject mysticism in its nega- including relativity. Unfortunately, these are tion of scientific criteria for the furtherance of knowledge." I usually ignored in the popular literature take this to mean that, if awareness is something that can be because they fail to support the mystical understood scientifically, then it might still be possible for it to be simulated. It just cannot be simulated computationally. Some delusions that people want confirmed. " kind of non-computational machine, made of matter and still operating in the purely physical domain, would have to be not been refuted after almost a century of precision tests. devised to simulate awareness. Non-superluminal, "un-conscious" interpretations of quan- If awareness is a physical phenomenon that is not com- tum mechanics have been proposed that are fully consistent with putable, a property that a computer (though not necessarily some all observations and established principles of physics, including other physical system) can never simulate, then some change in relativity.5 Unfortunately, these are usually ignored in the popu- our physical worldview is required to encompass a new, non- lar literature because they fail to support the mystical delusions computable physics. That is, some different kind of physics is that people want confirmed. Still, these non-mystical interpreta- poking its head through the thoughts in our own heads, a physics tions exist, and by their existence they refute all claims that unlike other physics in that its mechanisms do not follow tradi- quantum consciousness or holistic connections are demanded by tional computational lines. But it is still physics. quantum phenomena. Penrose believes that the key to the new physics lies in quan- The apparent paradoxes of quantum mechanics in fact disap- tum gravity, which somehow disentangles spatially separated, pear, once we recognize that elementary processes do not distin- coherent quantum states. However, he does not indicate why this guish between past and future or cause and effect. Experiments mechanism is necessarily non-computational, and only specu- that seem to require superluminal connections when viewed in lates on what it can possibly have to do with human thinking. I our familiar time direction are perfectly subluminal when the personally find it incomprehensible that quantum gravity, which arrow of time is reversed .8 only comes into play at distances of the order of 10-33 centime- While this violates our common intuitions, those intuitions ters, can have a profound role on the comparatively huge scale of are based on our experiences in a world of many particles where biological processes. I also find it rather anthropocentric to think phenomena that are fundamentally statistical nevertheless that the next great revolution in physics will occur in the explo- behave very predictably. The arrows of time and causality are not ration of phenomena within the human body. No previous scien- elementary. Rather, they are heuristic principles we have tific revolution happened this way. In fact, science developed as invented to conveniently describe the macroscopic world of our a direct consequence of the Copernican discovery that humanity experiences. In our lives, time flows one way, for all practical does not reside at the center of the universe. purposes. While it is technically possible for the atoms in your Penrose insists that the evidence for the new non-computa- body to assume a more youthful configuration, the chances are tional physics is to be found in human consciousness, even if far greater that you will age with the rest of us. By consensus, we consciousness is not its source. Of course, the thesis that the define the arrow of time to be the direction in which we all are brain is not simply a computer is one that the average person will observed to age. At the quantum scale, however, no such con- grasp with open arms. Few can imagine, or want to imagine, how sensus can be formed as particles interact without regard for an a computer can ever have "feelings" and "spiritual experiences." arrow of time.' Few believe, or want to believe, that computers ever can be capa- The quantum world only appears paradoxical when we force ble of "understanding." macroscopic principles upon it that do not apply at that level. The primary focus for Penrose's discussion of non-com- And once we rid quantum mechanics of its claimed paradoxes, putability is Gödel's theorem, which says that unprovable truths we eliminate it as a basis for mystical fantasies. can exist within any formal mathematical system at least as com- plicated as arithmetic." Gödel's theorem, Penrose says, demon- Penrose Platonism strates that "the mental procedures whereby mathematicians arrive at their judgments of truth are not simply rooted in the pro- evertheless, mystical physics refuses to die. In a pair of cedures of some specific formal system."" That is, mathemati- recent books, Oxford mathematician Roger Penrose has cians are able to develop true propositions by means other than argued forcefully, and controversially, that the human mind pos- the strict logic of mathematical procedures. sesses physical capabilities that enable it to reach into a realm of Penrose argues: "Once it is shown that certain types of math- reality that lies beyond time and space, to a Platonic world of ematical understanding must elude computational description, timeless mathematical truth .8 Penrose bases this claim on the then it is established that we can do something non-computa- assertion that a material computer can never duplicate, or simu- tional with our minds."" And, if we are to assume that the phe-
8 FREE INQUIRY nomenon of mind is still part of the physical world, then we are I will not settle it here. For my purposes, however, the following forced to relate mathematics to that world. conclusion can be drawn: Even if the human brain is not a com- Penrose adds: "There is something absolute and `God-given' puter, this does not imply that the "mind," which is the name we about mathematical truth." He admits he is very much a give to what the brain does, has a mystical or metaphysical com- Platonist: "In my own mind, the absoluteness of mathematical ponent. The view that is promoted by Penrose is one in which the truth and the Platonic existence of mathematical concepts are brain still does "thinking" by means of some physical process essentially the same thing." In other words, mathematical truths that remains to be determined. Whether or not he is correct on are the reality beyond the appearances. This neo-Neo-Platonic the need for new physics, he sees no need to transcend physics— view has come to be called "Penrose mysticism," though the just move it to a new level. Still, no scientific observation author firmly insists that the non-computational remains demands such an interpretation at this time. amenable to scientific study. Is the Brain a Quantum Device? Mystical Matters and Minds s I have noted above, consciousness is not needed to explain n his book with the catchy title The Mind of God, physicist- Aquantum mechanics. We might also ask whether quantum Iauthor Paul Davies has used Penrose's ideas in discussing the mechanics is needed to explain consciousness. possible connection between mathematics and the traditional Many authors have speculated that quantum mechanics plays notion of mystical truths." Mystics have universally claimed a part in the functioning of the brain. Neuroscientist Sir John direct communication with deeper reality, variously called The Eccles has presented a dualistic model in which mind exists as One, The Good, God, the Cosmos, Being, and many other an entity separate from matter, initiating wave function collapse names. The mystical experience is supposed to open the mind to that releases neurotransmitters at neural junctions." Penrose and instantaneous flashes of insight about a realm beyond the senses. his collaborator Stuart Hameroff have more recently proposed Distinguished physicists such as Brian Josephson and the late the "orchestrated objective reduction" of quantum coherence in David Bohm have said they found mysticism useful in develop- the microtubules of the neurons of the brain." ing their scientific ideas, and many of the founders of modern Must quantum mechanics play a non-trivial role in brain physics have speculated about the mystical. processes? Physicist Henry P. Stapp thinks so: "Brain processes Ken Wilber has edited a collection of such musings. involve chemical processes, and hence must, in principle, be Included are essays by Heisenberg, Schrödinger, Einstein, de treated quantum mechanically." Following the logic of this Broglie, Jeans, Planck, Pauli, and Eddington. Wilber interprets argument, we cannot use Newtonian mechanics to calculate the the essays as showing that each author was in fact a mystic. trajectory of a rock tossed in the air, because the rock is made of However, he admits that, "These theorists are virtually unani- chemical elements. mous in declaring that modern physics offers no positive sup- Several authors have made order-of-magnitude calculations port whatsoever for mysticism or transcendentalism of any that they claim demonstrate a plausible role for quantum variety."" So even if these giants of physics were mystics, mechanics in synaptic signals." All such estimates essentially which is highly debatable, their mysticism was not derived come down to an application of the quantum uncertainty princi- from their physics. ple. A simple calculation shows that quantum uncertainties are So where do Penrose's ideas fit within the framework of mys- unlikely to be important. Basically, neurons, and their associated tical perspectives? Certainly, he attempts to be completely ratio- meatware are still "macroscopic" as far as quantum physics is nal in demonstrating that we cannot determine all that is true by concerned. (Not all objects that must be viewed with a micro- computational means alone. On the other hand, he asserts that scope must be described by quantum mechanics.) While macro- the human mind nonetheless can formulate these truths, and that scopic quantum devices such as superconductors exist, these are they have a Platonic reality to them. Is mathematics, despite characterized by temperatures much lower than those of the Penrose's disclaimer, really then a mystical path to truth? Is it human brain. The brain sits at body temperature, which results in not, consequently, more like revelation than science as it goes far more random particle motion than occurs in cryogenic beyond sensory data and their numerical manipulations? Is the macroscopic quantum systems, so quantum coherent effects in existence of the Ultimate "shining through," despite the com- the brain are very likely to be washed out. plete lack of any physical evidence or any compelling need to Penrose and Hameroff have proposed a new idea: The seat of introduce metaphysical elements into our most fundamental the- quantum effects in the brain lies in microtubules, hollow fibers ories of physics and cosmology? that form part of the cytoskeletons of most of the cells of animal Most experts remain unconvinced by Penrose's assertion that and human bodies (not just brain cells). They suggest these may the human mind cannot be simulated by a machine. Virtually be the cell's own "nervous system."" However, microtubules are every learned commentary on his books disagrees with most or much larger than the synaptic gap and so are certainly "macro- all of his conclusions.1ó I believe it is fair to say that Penrose has scopic" objects in the sense used above. Penrose suggests that not achieved a consensus for his claims in any of a number of microtubules act in a coherent way, but has no hard evidence to communities, from artificial intelligence to quantum computa- back up this notion. And why should the microtubules in neurons tion and neurobiology. alone show quantum effects, and not those of other cells, say, in Undoubtedly the issue will continue to be hotly debated, and those of the liver?
Spring 1996 9 The Force of Consciousness "Mystical physics sells books and makes a lot rr hose who promote mystical physics refuse to believe that the of money for their authors. People happily 1. "mind" does not play a central role in choosing between the alternative paths that can be taken as the brain moves between pay to hear what they want to hear, that they quasi-stable states. This belief is not based on any external objec- are indeed the center of existence.... The tive evidence. Rather, the claim is made that our inner subjective new quantum holism feeds our decisions of experiences of consciousness, wholeness, and self-awareness require something more—a controlling agent capable of dealing personal importance." with complex wholes. Stapp argues, very unconvincingly in my view, that such control is a logical impossibility "within a frame- hundred years ago, Copernicus provided strong evidence that we work in which everything is asserted to be nothing but an aggre- are not the center of the universe. As we have seen, the evidence gation of simple parts." He believes that quantum mechanics that quantum mechanics either requires the action of human con- provides him with the holistic, non-reductionist framework that sciousness, or even plays a role in mental processes, is non-exis- he needs 22 Of course, Stapp must ignore those quantum inter- tent. Certainly quantum mechanics is needed to understand the pretations that are non-holistic and fully reductionist, and atoms in the brain. But it is also needed to explain the atoms in a explain the data equally well. rock, and this implies nothing about rock consciousness. Physicist Nick Herbert proposes "a kind of `quantum ani- Perhaps quantum fluctuations cause random bit errors that the mism' in which mind permeates the world at every level" with brain is able to organize into new operations, but this role is nei- consciousness "a fundamental force that enters into necessary ther necessary nor compelling. The environment can produce the cooperation with matter to bring about the fine details of our needed fluctuations. The self-organizing capabilities of the everyday world."23 However, Herbert does not tell us what brain's nonlinear neural network, operating at the edge of chaos, makes humans different from rocks, which, after all, is the goal may be capable of doing all the work of selection of the best path of the discussion. among all possibilities, with no help from quantum mechanics. The quantum mystics persist in their belief that human con- In fact, the human brain and body probably evolved with the sciousness must act as the agent that brings about the specific dimensions they have in order to avoid quantum effects and choice among the alternate paths of a physical system. This is not their inherent uncertainties. The classical physics that operates accommodated in conventional, indeterministic quantum mechan- on the macroscopic scale is now well understood as the many ics, which only computes the probabilities for different paths. The particle limit of the quantum physics that occurs more funda- conscious force, in the view of Stapp, Herbert, and those of like mentally on all scales. The apparent deterministic quality of mind, acts to "actualize" the event, changing a possibility into a classical physics follows as a consequence of the large numbers happening. To physicist Euan Squires, consciousness interacts of particles on the macroscopic scale, where the probabilities of with the world in determining the choices between paths.24 For the quantum world become near-certainties. Evolution may Squires, the mind acts as the "selector" among alternative worlds, have selected classical physics as the domain of life because of the way a television viewer chooses which channel to watch? its highly predictable nature. Penrose also argues for "some kind of active role for con- It seems little more than primitive, wishful thinking to view sciousness, and indeed a powerful one, with a strong selective consciousness as some supernatural, or at least super-material, advantage"' to avoid blind randomness? However, he disagrees psychic force that provides basic control over the choices the with the mind-matter dualists in an important way. In the dualis- universe makes between allowed, alternative paths. Such a the- tic view, consciousness is some kind of extraphysical force that ory is verifiable. It should lead to phenomena such as extrasen- acts to cause events to happen, to collapse wave functions or sory perception and psychokinesis that violate the laws that con- actualize particular paths. In the dualistic view, mind controls the strain matter. But, psychic phenomena have failed to be verified universe. For Penrose, the universe still controls the mind and after 150 years of attempts involving thousands of independent thinking is still material. experiments. No other scientific hypothesis has continued to be Penrose, as I have noted, proposes that some new physics is advanced after failing to be confirmed for such a period of time. involved in consciousness—but it remains physics. After all this time, we can safely assume that psychic phenom- Nevertheless, in claiming that new physics can be found in the ena do not exist. operation of consciousness, Penrose joins Stapp, Herbert, Squires, and other authors in assigning a very special role in the The Me Decades universe to what may be in fact a simple accident of evolution— human consciousness.27 ver a decade ago, Fritjof Capra, Marilyn Ferguson, Gary Mystical physics sells books and makes a lot of money for their Zukov, and other New Age authors had predicted that the authors. People happily pay to hear what they want to hear, that 1980s would be a revolutionary time "because the whole struc- they are indeed the center of existence. However, the only honest ture of our society does not correspond with the world-view of position that can be taken by a scientist who expects to retain his emerging scientific thought."28 They blamed classical physics for or her integrity and credibility is to insist on overwhelming empir- all the ills of society and saw the new physics, especially quan- ical evidence before promoting such an extraordinary claim. Four tum mechanics, as a savior.
10 FREE INQUIRY In her 1990 book, The Quantum Self Danah Zohar asserts that cisms, I see only contrasts. Where they promote the new mythol- "Cartesian philosophy wrenched human beings from their famil- ogy as an antidote for self-absorption, I assert that they are man- iar social and religious context and thrust us headlong into .. . ufacturing a drug that induces it. And, while they blame rational our I-centered culture, a culture dominated by egocentricity."29 science for the ills of the world, I hold rational science as a source The new holistic physics was supposed to teach people to be less of genuine hope for reducing the severity of this latest addiction, selfish, to recognize that they are part of a greater whole and to if only we and our successors have the wisdom to use it properly. work cooperatively for the benefit of everyone. As the century draws to a close, however, I can perceive no Notes great holistic revolution actually having taken place in the decade past. The facts indicate the contrary. The 198Os have been 1.Stapp, Henry P. 1994. "Theoretical model of a purported empirical viola- tion of the predictions of quantum theory." Physical Review A. 50, pp. 18-22. characterized, in America anyway, as the "Me Decade." Far from 2. See, for example, D. Bohm, and B. J. Hiley, 1993. The Undivided recognizing that we are each an inseparable part of the whole, Universe: An Ontological Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. London: and everyone pitching in to make the world a better place for its Routledge. 3. See, for example, Menas Kafatos and Robert Nadeau, 1990. The inhabitants, life in the 198Os was characterized by an unprece- Conscious Universe: Part and Whole in Modern Physical Theory. New York, dented level of individual self-absorption. And the 1990s so far Springer-Verlag. show no sign of a change in this focus on self, as every element 4. For these details, see my book The Unconscious Quantum: Metaphysics in Modern Physics and Cosmology. Prometheus Books, 1995. of our society is geared to provide maximal short-term self-grat- 5. See, for example, Ronald J. Omnés, 1994. The Interpretation of Quantum ification for its members, while those who fail to be gratified Mechanics. Princeton: Princeton University Press. view themselves as victims. 6. For aficionados, the EPR experiment is perfectly local in a time-reversed frame of reference. See Ref. 4, pp. 150-153. Now some will argue that the ever-increasing fixation with 7. There are some rare exceptions that do not bear on this discussion. self only reinforces the need for a holistic philosophy like that of 8. Penrose, Roger 1989. The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Capra, Ferguson, and Zohar. They will say that the problem is Minds, and the Laws of Physics. Oxford: 0xford University Press. . 1994. Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of that holistic philosophy has not yet taken hold. Consciousness. Oxford: 0xford University Press. I disagree. In fact, no small portion of the blame for the cur- 9. Penrose 1994, p. 12. rent excessive self-absorption lies at the feet of the proponents of 10. Gödel, Kurt. 1931. Monatshefte far Mathematik und Physik 38, pp. 173-198. the new mysticism. Holistic philosophy is the perfect self-delu- 11. Penrose 1989, p. 110. sion for the spoiled brat of any age, all decked out in the latest 12. Penrose 1989, p. 51. fashion, who loves to talk about solving the problems of the 13. Penrose 1989, p. 112. 14. Davies Paul. 1992. The Mind of God: The Scientific Basis for a Rational world but has no intention of sweating a drop in achieving this World New York: Simon and Schuster, p. 226. Paul Davies was the 1995 recip- noble goal. ient of the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, worth over a million dollars. Reductionist classical physics did not make people egoists. 15. Wilber Ken (ed). 1984. Quantum Questions: Mystical Writings of the World's Greatest Physicists. Boulder, Colorado: Shambhala. People were egoists long before reductionist classical physics. In 16. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 1990, 13, pp. 643-705. At this writing, a fact, classical physics has nothing to say about humans except similar critique of Shadows is being assembled on the Internet by the journal that they are material objects like rocks and trees, made of noth- Psyche. 17. Popper, K. R., and J. C. Eccles. 1977. The Self and Its Brain. Berlin: ing more than the same atoms just more cleverly arranged by Springer. the impersonal forces of self-organization and evolution. This is Eccles, J. 1986. "Do Mental Events Cause Neural Events Analogously to the hardly a philosophical basis for narcissism. Probability Fields of Quantum Mechanics?" Proc. Royal Soc. London B227, pp. 411-428. The new quantum holism, on the other hand, feeds our delu- . 1990. "A Unitary Hypothesis of Mind-Brain Interaction in the sions of personal importance. It tells us that we are part of an Cerebral Cortex." Proc. Royal Soc. London B240, pp. 433-451. immortal cosmic mind with the power to perform miracles and, as 18. Hameroff, S. R. 1994. "Quantum coherence in microtubules: A neural basis for emergent consciousness?" Journal of Consciousness Studies 1(1): 91-118. Shirley MacLaine has said, to make our own reality. Who needs Hameroff, S. R. and R. Penrose. 1996. "0rchestrated reduction of quantum God when we, ourselves, are God? Thoughts of our participation coherence in brain micro-tubules: A model for consciousness." In Toward a in cosmic consciousness inflate our egos to the point where we can Science of Consciousness-Contributions from the 1994 Tucson Conference, S. R. Hameroff, A. Kaszniak, and A. C. Scott, eds. Mass.: MIT Press. ignore our short-comings and even forget our mortality. 19. Stapp, Henry P. 1993. Mind Matter, and Quantum Mechanics. New York: The modern versions of traditional religions feed on this Springer-Verlag, p. 42. desire. Where once Christian preachers shouted hellfire and 20. Herbert, Nick. 1993. Elemental Mind: Human Consciousness and the New Physics. New York: Dutton, p. 254. brimstone from the pulpit, their successors in the very same sects Squires, Evan, 1990. Conscious Mind in the Physical World. (New York: now present the soothing message that we are all perfect, worthy, Adam Hilger, p. 222). and destined for infinite happiness. The only sacrifice required is 21. Hameroff 1994, 1996; Penrose 1994, pp. 357-377. 22. Stapp 1993, p. 25. a regular check. Then Jesus will provide all. 23. Herbert 1993, p. 5. Mystical physics is a grossly misapplied version of ancient 24. Squires 1990, p. 229. Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, which were based on the notion 25. Squires 1990, p. 201. 26. Penrose 1989, p. 446. that only by the complete rejection of self can one find inner 27. See FREE INQUIRY 14(4), 1994 for a discussion of the latest scientific peace in this world of suffering and hopelessness. Capra and his ideas on consciousness. colleagues say they are putting a modern face on ancient Eastern 28. As quoted in Ferguson, Marilyn 1980. The Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social Transformation in the 1980s. Los Angeles: Tarcher, p. 145. philosophy. I say they are covering a noble edifice with graffiti. 29. Zohar, Danah. 1990. The Quantum Self: Human Nature and Con- Where they see similarities between the new and the old mysti- sciousness Defined by the New Physics. New York: Morrow, p. 18.
Spring 1996 11
contempt for those who won't buy their particular religious package. 'We Need a Miracle!' Obviously what bothers the "worldly wise" is not that miracles exist, but that a AIMIMMIIMME e Supreme Court Justice questions those who don't believe in the ones that he Art Buchwald believes in. Secular Americans pray that their Supreme Court Justices will not upreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wise people" questioning religious mira- make religious judgments against certain recently addressed a prayer breakfast cles, most secular people I know—espe- members of our society, even if it produces in Jackson, Mississippi. He told the audi- cially lawyers—believe in miracles. a standing ovation in Jackson, Mississippi. ence that they should defend their reli- Whenever a lawyer, or his client, goes When a Justice is hearing a case, no gious beliefs against the assaults of a sec- to the Supreme Court, each secretly prays secular person can feel comfortable with a ular society. He said that Christians must that he or she will get an impartial hear- member of the Court who is thinking, "If proclaim their belief in miracles and ing, if not from Justice Scalia, at least this lawyer doesn't believe in the `burning ignore the scorn of the "worldly wise." from Justice Clarence Thomas. bush,' he has a serious constitutional The thrust of Scalia's address, which The question of whether religious mir- problem." was well received, was that the sophisti- acles are more miraculous than secular So that I don't receive a great deal of cated world treats Christians as fools for ones is up for grabs. A worldly wise friend mail on this, I wish to state that I believe their faith and refuses to accept their of mine maintains that a miracle is a mir- in every miracle that everybody else beliefs seriously. acle is a miracle, and, if you believe in believes in—whether they be Christian, I don't think that this is true, and I one, it doesn't matter whose faith you are Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist. would like to respectfully submit a dissent pledged to. At the same time, my cousin Zero to the Justice's position. Those who believe in religious mira- doesn't believe in any. Zero has no cases While there could be a few "worldly cles are far more impassioned than those pending before the Supreme Court at the who don't. The secular society that Scalia moment. But when he does I hope that Art Buchwald is a columnist for the Los attacked does not have strong feelings Scalia treats him with as much fairness as Angeles Times Syndicate. This article is about what goes on in someone else's he would treat me. published with permission. church. Based on the Justice's speech in But many church members express Jackson—it would be a miracle. •
to be to me, this great fuss, this hulla- Paul Cadmus: Artist-Humanist baloo over 'The Fleet's In!' Censorship's both a boon and a curse to the artist, because it often makes him better known Warren Allen Smith than before—certainly true of me. I've always liked the story of the aul Cadmus is the egg-tempera man. admiral for having painted a group of Albigensians, besieged by the pope at PIf you have seen the televised docu- sailors on shore leave in the company of Beziers. His soldiers asked him: 'How do mentary about this world-famous realist some floozies in New York City's we know the heretics from the painter, you will recall his dramatic break- Riverside Park. The admiral said the Christians?' The pope said: 'Burn them ing of an egg while he mixes his materi- work, "The Fleet's In!," represented "a all. God will know his own.' als, using a Renaissance style of painting most disgraceful, sordid, disreputable, Cadmus has also been negatively criti- that requires paint to be applied in small, drunken brawl" and was "an insult to the cized for his male nudes, although others light strokes. The process allows for few enlisted men." The painting was removed have compared his work to that of mistakes, because once the stroke is made from the Corcoran Gallery by Henry Michelangelo. "I do love Michelangelo's it is difficult to change. Latrobe Roosevelt, Assistant Secretary of forms," Cadmus has stated. "His male Cadmus is also a mild but fiercely the Navy, who took it to his home and nudes are wonderful. Both he and independent man. In 1934, then an said, "It's out of sight and will remain out Carravaggio are great favorites of mine. unknown 29-year-old Greenwich Village of sight." And so it did for almost fifty In fact, Michelangelo's women often look artist, he was denounced by a U.S. Navy years, until 1981, when under threat of a like males with grapefruits attached." Are lawsuit the work was returned to the pub- you listening, Senator Helms? FREE. INQUIRY editorial associate Warren lic domain and was exhibited once again. In 1991 Modern Maturity, the journal Allen Smith lives in New York City. "I don't suppose I realized," Cadmus of the Association of American Asso- explained, "how important it was going ciation of Retired Persons (AARP), fea-
12 FREE INQUIRY tured an article on some recently restored from Jutland (Denmark) around 1710. My SMITH: How did you meet the novelist Italian frescoes. The magazine included a father's side may have been Dutch and, E. M. Forster? beautiful color reproduction of Adam and like Erasmus, Latinized the name. My CADMUS: Through correspondence, Eve. Several readers were quick to object mother, conceived in Spain, was born in originally. I admired his writings so much. to the "pornography" (Adam and Eve New York. Her father was Basque, her During the war I sent him packages of were both naked), its chauvinism (Eve mother Cuban. Maybe I was just a cad to food to London. He wrote back saying was not as beautifully painted as Adam), begin with, and the name was Latinized. that he'd seen my pictures reproduced in and said, call it art or whatever, we don't [Laughter.] some magazine and liked them. I began feel it's appropriate for our magazine. SMITH: Were you into religion as a writing to him and sending more pack- What they had not appreciated, appar- child? ages. When he came to America, I invited ently, was that the work in the Brancacci CADMUS: Well, I was a devout him to stay. You know, of course, that Chapel in the church of Santa Maria del Catholic until I was 17, then shed it all. Forster was a non-theist and a member of Carmine in Florence, Italy, was painted by SMITH: Your series of oil paintings, the Rationalist Press Association. In his Masaccio (1401-1428?), one of the fore- "Seven Deadly Sins," shows you have an journal he said he hoped that he would most figures of the Florentine Renais- understanding of what was held to be fatal have the courage never to see a priest at sance and an artist whose work is in the to spiritual progress. the time of his dying. And he didn't. tradition of Giotto and Michelangelo. CADMUS: I thought about that series [Listening in to the conversation was Also what was revealed, Cadmus noted for a long time. I wanted to do an impor- Jon Anderson, Cadmus's model for many recently from his home in Connecticut, is tant subject but thought I had done drawings and roommate for decades. Jon that for many Americans, "Genitalia, it enough pictures showing the foibles of shares Cadmus's favorable views about seems, equal pornography." human beings. I read Spenser and almost non-theistic secular humanism. He also Cadmus was so amused by the tempest anything I could read about the subject. realizes that, as the subject of so many of that followed that in 1991 at the age of 87 SMITH: Pride, Lust, Sloth, Gluttony, Paul's paintings, which will be displayed he was inspired to paint "Shame!" That Envy, Avarice, Anger. Have you a favorite for centuries to come, he was achieve work, wrote New York Times art critic sin, and do sinners go to Hell? immortality: secular immortality. Both are William Grimes, depicts "a stark-naked CADMUS: I do believe that that there is avid readers of FREE INQUIRY.] nuclear family, glowing with Wonder sin, and I have experienced jealousy. But Bread righteousness, and surrounded by envy has played a very little part in my life, five howling, spitting figures representing except for people with grand pianos who Bigotry, Intolerance, Censorship and don't play them themselves. I like the story Authority, Ignorance and Stupidity, and about the painter who was asked about his Prudery. Censorship and Authority is a work's symbolism and responded that he beefy figure, seen from behind, with black hadn't yet put the symbolism in. As for eyeglasses, rolls of fat on his neck, and a Hell, I wish there were such a place. There dozen hairs combed across a bald pate. should be an eternal Hell for people who `I'll admit,' said Cadmus, 'that Jesse think that people who do not believe as Helms was not far from my thoughts they do will be in Hell forever. when I painted that picture." SMITH: Did you have any other ambi- In his 91 years, Cadmus has completed tion than becoming an artist? over 120 paintings. His numerous CADMUS: I had hoped to be an accom- sketches and other works can be found in plished pianist. I like Bartok and The Drawings of Paul Cadmus (Rizzoli, Stravinsky and still play my prized pos- 1989) and in Lincoln Kirstein's Paul session, my Steinway grand over there. Cadmus (Pomegranate Artbooks, 1992). SMITH: When did you show an inter- Born in New York in 1904, Cadmus had est in art, and when did you start with the his first one-man show in New York in egg tempera work? 1937. His works are in all the major muse- CADMUS: I started drawing when I was ums, and he is one of the 250 members of two and a half. "Woman" was done during the prestigious American Academy of Arts my de Kooning period when I was four and Letters along with Jasper Johns, Jack and a half. [Laughter.] The teacher who Levine, Robert Motherwell, Wayne first made art interesting was William Thiebaud, Andrew Wyeth, and other dis- Stockweather, who taught at a New York tinguished artists of our time. City public school. After I dropped out of In a recent interview at his art-filled high school, I went into art school. In Connecticut home, Cadmus was asked 1931 or so, Jared Prince, with whom I about his name. shared a studio and apartment, showed me CADMUS: I think my ancestors sailed about egg tempera. Summer 1996 13 Nurse. As an added extra to her busy career, she became a mother and bore her In Honor of Bonnie Bullough first son, David, in 1954. Her B.S. degree in Nursing was earned in 1957 in Youngstown, Ohio, where Vern had a University appointment as an Gerald A. Larue Associate Professor at Youngstown University. Bonnie became a part-time Bonnie Bullough, a longtime friend of and their wedding is one for the books—it instructor in Nursing at the same institu- contributor to FREE INQUIRY died April involved the determination to avoid the tion. Here she bore their second son, 12 1996, in Northridge, California. The three-day waiting period required by the James, in 1956. In 1958, their son Steve, following tribute is adapted from remarks state of California by traveling by bus to who was at that time in Florence by Gerald A. Larue at a commemoration Reno. They were wed by an aged minis- Crittendon Center, became the first ceremony on April 21, 1996. ter, to whom they were introduced by a adopted member of the family. taxi driver who got a cut of the wedding When Vern got an appointment in onnie Bullough was born in Delta, fee. After a bus trip back to Santa Rosa, California in 1959, Bonnie became a part- BUtah, to a seventeen-year-old mother. arriving at 2 A.M., they walked a mile to time nurse at Northridge Hospital and a Her father left almost immediately and their tiny converted one-car garage apart- student at the University of California at Bonnie never met him or knew him. Her ment and collapsed out of fatigue. Talk Los Angeles. Can you imagine this first years were spent with her grand- about bravado! dynamic woman ever getting less than A's mother, and, although she had been in her graduate studies? But it did happen named Louise, "Bonnie" reflects the ost of us recognize Bonnie as an in 1961 when she was working on her name her Scottish great-grandfather used Moutstanding scholar. She wrote, co- master's degree in nursing at UCLA. She when he dandled her on his knees. When wrote with Vern, and edited more than was required to take an undergraduate she was three and one-half years old she thirty books. Presently, she has two books course in psychology, which she resented was horribly burned, and it was not until in press and another to be sent to press. because, as Vern puts, she knew the sub- the Crippled Children's Act was passed in She wrote and co-authored more than 160 ject backward and forward. This was the 1935 that she received the needed surgery week when Susan—the first and only girl to cope with her injuries. Between the "Bonnie's humanistic adopted into the expanding Bullough fam- ages of eight and twelve she spent every concerns led her to ily—came into their lives. Bonnie was up summer in the hospital. When she was all night before the examination, and she embrace a wide variety fourteen her mother disappeared, and she of friends without fell asleep during it, awakening when was officially adopted by her uncle, Clyde regard to race, there were just 10 minutes left to complete Uckerman, althought her mother's second religion, color, or it. She did a hurried job and received her husband expressed a willingness to take lifestyle. Her interests first and only C grade. In 1962, Bonnie her. Uckerman was only fourteen years were humanistic, earned her Master of Science degree in older than Bonnie and a master sergeant in humanitarian, Nursing followed by an M.A. in the U.S. Army fighting in the Pacific the- professional, and Sociology in 1965 and a Ph.D. in ater. She was cared for by her grand- inclusive." Sociology in 1968. And as if that was not mother, using the dependency allotment enough, she earned a Certificate as a of her bachelor adopted father to support Family Nurse Practitioner from UCLA her. It should not be assumed that Bonnie refereed articles plus more than fifty shortly afterward. was raised without love and affection— other articles and over twenty chapters in In 1966 she became a Fulbright lec- this was not so—but at a very early age a variety of books. She gave nearly 100 turer in Cairo, Egypt, and it was that year she was pushed into relying on herself. public lectures. while the family was in Jerusalem that Bonnie was fifteen years old when she Bonnie's college education began in David was killed. The story of their met Vern. They were both members of a Utah when she received a Diploma in efforts to have this twelve-year-old child student debate group. It is important to Nursing from the Salt Lake General buried in the American Cemetery in note that Vern did not come from an afflu- Hospital and the University of Utah in Jerusalem reeks of religious bigotry by ent family. They were, in Vern's words, a 1947. From 1947 to 1951 she served as a the fundamentalist Christian minister who working-class family. Vern joined the head nurse in the operating room. With was in charge of the burial ground. It is army in 1946, and on August 7, 1947, he Vern she moved to Chicago in 1951, enough to say that the Bulloughs perse- and Bonnie were married. The story of where he earned his Ph.D. in 1954. She vered and were successful in surmounting was, for a year, a nurse in the operating this man's stalling efforts. Gerald A. Larue is a senior editor at FREE room in the University of Chicago Clinics For the next year Bonnie was a part- INQUIRY. before she joined the City of Chicago Health Department as a Public Health (Continued on p. 59)
14 FREE INQUIRY Atheist/Humanist Dialogue. She and Vern traveled to Ghana to bring contraceptive Bonnie Bullough 1927-1996 information to women; they also went to Berlin, Beijing, Amsterdam, Toronto, and elsewhere, proclaiming the virtues of humanism. Paul Kurtz Bonnie Bullough was a Promethean figure, in the best sense of that term—she umanists do not believe in an after- sons should be treated with equal dignity was Prometheus unbound: Hlife; they hold that what endures of a and value, no matter what their gender, She challenged the Gods on high and person is the influence that, he or she has sexual orientation, race, ethnic origin, or the powers that be; had on the minds and hearts of those who class. She fought for sexual equality— She fought injustice; remain. Bonnie Bullough did not believe reproductive freedom, the right to abor- She was an inexhaustible reservoir of in the illusion of immortality. She thought tion and contraception, and equality of insight, always receptive to new ideas and that the best response to death is the reaf- opportunity for women. She also be- new research; firmation of life. lieved deeply in racial equality and She opposed hypocrisy and cant; She was a leader in several fields of indeed, she and Vern adopted two She could deflate any pompous profes- creative endeavor: sexology, where along African-American children and one sor or theologian; with Vern Bullough, her husband, she is Korean child, and raised them with love Her barbs could enliven any academic considered one of the leading contributors and devotion. assembly or congress; to scholarly research; nursing, where she Her global reputation as an ambas- She was a source of wisdom and wit. attempted to elevate the professional and sador for the humanist outlook is firmly Bonnie was a woman of great energy scientific credibility of the field; and established. Last year she traveled to and drive. A brilliant mind, a creative higher education, where she served with Greece to help establish the Delphi genius, a wonderful person to know. We distinction as a teacher and administrator. Academy, and seven years ago she went in the humanist movement cherish her Bonnie Bullough also made significant to Moscow to take part in the first memory and shall miss her. contributions to the humanist movement; and she exemplified throughout her life the humanist outlook and humanist val- ues. Indeed, Bonnie Bullough richly deserves an important place within the pantheon of humanist heroines and heroes. This honor is reserved for out- standing leaders of thought and 'action who have made extraordinary contribu- tions to the humanist outlook. Bonnie Bullough stands alongside other humanist heroines, such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Margaret Sanger, and Simone de Beauvoir, who were on the barricades battling for women's rights. Bonnie was an active member of the Council for Secular Humanism and a Humanist Laureate of the International Academy of Humanism. Born into a Mormon family and raised in conservative Utah, she broke with the church—which she found to be too authoritarian—and she proclaimed her own independence and freedom as an autonomous person. But at the same time, she attempted to develop an authentic humanist alternative and she eloquently espoused a set of humanist values. She cherished the right of self- determination, and believed that all per- Summer 1996 15 The Abortion Debate
WHEW Vern L. Bullough
istorically, abortion has been widely ened their position by emphasizing the emotional health of the would-be mother used as a method of eliminating dangers of abortion and the use of mid- demanded it. In fact, with the development births, although attempts were not always wives. It should be recognized that abor- of antibiotics and new abortion tech- effective and many were very harmful to tions in the past could be fatal, and it was niques, there was little medical justifica- the women involved. A significant pro- probably wise for the emerging gynecol- tion for opposing abortion. The result was portion of prescriptions and incantations ogists to avoid a potential trouble spot in a growing campaign both within and with- dealing with women that have survived their practice by refusing to perform out the health professional community to from the past are concerned with men- them. It was largely through their efforts legalize it, and this gained a new power strual regulation, a term that I interpret to that abortion was outlawed at the turn of base as women increasingly demanded the mean abortion. Methods to bring this the century in most states, not only for right to control their own bodies. about included various drugs such as physicians but for their potential rivals, Beginning in the the 1950s, barriers to ergot, which cause strong uterine contrac- the midwives. abortion began to fall in countries all over tions; strong purgatives; douching; and Restrictions and prohibitions, however, the world. Opposition to abortion was no even scraping the inside of the uterus did not eliminate abortions—it just made longer a medical issue, but it became (what is now called "curettage" since a them more difficult and dangerous to get. something it had never been before—a curette, a spoon-shaped instrument, is Even when the abortionist might be a moral issue. How could the Catholic used). The danger with this last procedure skilled physician or midwife (although church condemn something as murder in in the past was infection and even death. 1960 that it found acceptable a century Even if the woman did not die, the result- earlier? How could a procedure that was "Ultimately, it boils down to a mat- ing infection could bring about sterility. of little danger to the woman be denied to ter of individual choice, and it Both English (Common) law and her if she did not want to be pregnant? would seem in a world where so canon law recognized that inducing abor- Logic and rationality, however, have much of our lives are controlled tion before quickening, the first percepti- never had much weight in dealing with by others, we should at least leave ble movement of the fetus, was not an what quickly became an emotional issue. the decision of whether or not to offense. Abortions in the past were usu- Ultimately, it boils down to a matter of carry a pregnancy to term to the ally performed by a midwife or a knowl- individual choice, and it would seem in a woman (or, preferably, the edgeable woman; rarely was a male world where so much of our lives are con- couple) involved." involved. Most abortions went unreported trolled by others, we should at least leave and unrecorded, and probably most men the decision of whether or not to carry a knew little about what was going on. In most were not), they were cut off from pregnancy to term to the woman (or, the nineteenth century, however, abortion hospitals and other facilities that could aid preferably, the couple) involved. Even became much more publicized, while sci- them in the management of medical emer- among those who advocate or at least tol- entific research indicated that embryonic gencies, such as hemorrhaging or infec- erate abortion, there is disagreement, and development was continuous, with quick- tion. We know that the death toll of the articles in the FREE INQUIRY special ening being just one stage. women with botched abortions grew section that follow explore many of these It was not for any scientific reasons, rather rapidly as police enforcement different outlooks. Abortion becomes an however, that the Catholic church moved pushed the abortionist more and more to easier and easier procedure with each against abortion, but to make Catholic the fringe of society. passing year, at least in the initial stages of theology about the Virgin Mary more log- It was probably developments in medi- pregnancy. Many contraceptive pills can ical. It was also not science that led to the cine, particularly the discovery of antibi- be used effectively as abortifacients if growing opposition of physicians (at least otics which could control if not eliminate taken after intercourse. Other estrogen in America) to abortion, but the struggle infection, that led medical professionals to and progestrin combinations such as in between midwives and obstetricians. look on abortion differently. New surgical Orval can be easily prescribed, or the Professional obstetricians gained an techniques such as curettage had also estrogen Diethylstilbestrol, and RU 486, advantage over midwives through their developed, and physicians turned in as yet unreleased in United States. In control of anesthesia, and they strength- increasing numbers to performing what short, I would urge we face reality, and were called "therapeutic abortions." In recognize that abortion, or perhaps the Vern L. Bullough is a FREE INQUIRY some states, therapeutic abortions could be more neutral term, menstrual regulation, senior editor. performed if the physician decided the is here to stay. •
16 FREE INQUIRY his is a very appropriate time for me Tto write on "The Moral Case for The Moral Case Abortion." Many people in the pro-choice community believe that the battle for reproductive freedom has been won, that for Abortion abortion is now available, that women have gained control over their reproduc- tive capacities and have been liberated from the repressive rulings of patriarchal Henry Morgentaler governments. This is not completely true. There are still many countries in the world where women are subjected to the Henry Morgentaler was born on March 19, 1923, in Lodz, Poland. From dogmatic religious edicts of theocracies. 1940-1945 he was interned in the Lodz Ghetto and in the Auschwitz and There are still women willing to endanger Dauchau concentration camps. He received his medical education in their health, future fertility, and even their lives in order to terminate an unwanted Germany, Belgium, and pregnancy. The religious right and the Montreal, Canada. In 1968, anti-abortion movement is gaining ground moved by the tragedies of on this continent and abroad. Even here, women suffering injury and in the United States, where everyone death in unsafe, illegal hoped that Roe v. Wade would forever abortions, Morgentaler ensure a woman's right to choice, the vio- opened Canada's first lent factions of the anti-abortion move- abortion clinic, in ment are waging war on doctors, staff, and Montreal. In 1973, he was abortion clinics; and political lobby tried on a charge of illegal groups and presidential candidates vio- abortion and acquitted by a lently opposed to choice are within reach jury. The jury acquittal was of the Oval Office. There are even mem- reversed by the Court of bers of the pro-choice community who are questioning the morality of reproductive Appeal of Quebec. In 1975, freedom. These people believe that abor- this most unusual convic- tion must be available, but that it is inher- tion was upheld by the ently bad—a necessary evil. This attitude Supreme Court of Canada. is dangerous and destructive and under- Morgentaler served ten mines the enormous gains due to the months of an eighteen- availability of good abortion services. In month sentence when fact, the decision to have an abortion is Canada's House of Commons passed the "Morgentaler Amendment," mak- clearly an extremely moral choice; it is a ing it unconstitutional for the legislature to overturn a jury acquittal. In all, choice that liberates, empowers, and ben- Morgentaler was tried four times on charges of illegal abortion. In 1988, efits women and society. In this article, I the last attempted prosecution ended when the Supreme Court of Canada will examine all these issues from a humanist perspective, and reaffirm the declared Canada's abortion law unconstitutional. Canada has since morality of reproductive choice. remained without any federal law governing abortion. Morgentaler has The issue of the morality of abortion opened clinics across Canada, often in the face of strong provincial oppo- provides the best illustration of the pro- sition. In 1992 his Toronto clinic was firebombed. No perpetrator was ever found difference between humanist ethics captured. Early in 1996, Morgentaler made headlines across Canada and and traditional religious attitudes. The for- internationally when he issued an open letter to Pope John Paul II, implor- mer are based on concern for individual ing the pontiff to reconsider traditional Catholic doctrines about abortion, and collective well-being and are able to birth control, and women's roles in society. He is the author of Abortion incorporate all available modern data and and Contraception (1982). He is the founding president of the Humanist knowledge; whereas the latter are bound Association of Canada and has received awards from Planned Parenthood, by dogma and tradition to sexist, irrational the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), the National prohibitions against abortion and women's Abortion Federation, the Council for Secular Humanism, and the rights and are completely and callously indifferent to the enormous, avoidable suf- International Humanist and Ethical Union. fering such attitudes are inflicting on indi- viduals and on the community.
Summer 1996 17 Most of the debate raging about abor- fetal life that He allows so much of it to go unique individuality, so that these children tion around the world has centered around to waste without intervening? Is it not grow up to be joyful, loving, caring, the question of morality. Is it ever moral possible to then conclude that God does responsible members of the community, or responsible for a woman to request and not mind or object to spontaneous abor- able to enter into meaningful relationships receive an abortion, or is abortion always tions? Why is it that the Catholic church with others. immoral, sinful, and criminal? has no ritual to mark the abortion of so Thus, reproductive freedom—access When you listen to the rhetoric of the much fetal life when it occurs sponta- to legal abortions, to contraception, and, anti-abortion faction, or read imprecise neously, yet becomes so vociferous and by extension, to sexual education—pro- terms about the unborn, you get the condemnatory when it is a conscious deci- tects women and couples and is probably impression that every abortion kills a sion by a woman or couple? the most important aspect of preventive child; consequently it cannot be condoned I believe that an early embryo may be medicine and psychiatry, as well as the under any circumstances, with the sole called a potential human being. But most promising preventative of crime and exception of when the life of the pregnant remember that every woman has the mental illness in our society. woman is endangered by the pregnancy, a potential to create twenty-five human Wherever abortion legislation has been condition that is now extremely rare. This beings in her lifetime. The idea that any liberalized, particularly in countries where position—that abortion is always wrong woman who becomes pregnant as a result abortion is available upon request, the and that there is a human being in the of non-procreative sexual intercourse effects on public health and on the well- womb from the moment of conception— must continue with her pregnancy does being of the community have been very is a religious idea mostly propagated by not take into consideration the fact that positive. The drastic reduction of illegal, the doctrine of the Roman Catholic there is a tremendous discrepancy incompetent abortions with their disas- church and espoused by many fundamen- between the enormous potential of human trous consequences has almost eliminated talist Protestant groups, though not by the fertility and the real-life ability of women one of the major hazards to the lives and majority of Catholics and Protestants. and couples to provide all that is neces- health of fertile women. There has been a Let us briefly examine this idea. At the sary to bring up children properly. The steady decline in the complications and moment of conception the sperm and the morality of any act cannot be divorced mortality associated with medical abor- ovum unite, creating one cell. To proclaim from the foreseeable consequences of that tions, a decline in mortality due to child- that this one cell is already a full human act. Should a girl of twelve or a woman of birth, a drop in newborn and infant mortal- being and should be treated as such is so forty-five, or any woman for that matter, ity, an overall decline in premature births, patently absurd that it is almost difficult to be forced to continue a pregnancy or be and a drop in the number of births of refute. It is as if someone claimed that one saddled with bringing up a child for eigh- unwanted children. It is of utmost interest brick is already a house and should be teen years without any regard for the con- to examine the consequences and effects treated with the same respect a full house sequences, without any regard for the of the liberalization of the abortion laws. deserves. Even if you have a hundred expressed will or desire of that woman, or Where abortion has become legalized bricks, or two hundred bricks, it is not yet of the couple? and available and where there is sufficient a house. For it to be a house it needs walls, Haven't we learned anything by medical manpower to provide quality plumbing, electricity, and a functional observing events in countries where abor- medical services in this area, the conse- organization. The same is true for a devel- tion is illegal, where women are forced to quences have all been beneficial not only oping embryo. In order for it to be a human abort fetuses themselves or by the hands to individuals but also to society in gen- being it needs an internal organization, of quacks, where many die and more are eral. It countries where there is a high level organs, and especially a human brain to be injured for life or lose their fertility? What of education and where abortions by qual- considered fully human. This entity is the about the children often abandoned to ified medical doctors are available without result of sexual intercourse, where procre- institutions where they have no father or delay, self-induced or illegal abortions by ation is often not the goal, and whether it is mother, where they suffer so much emo- incompetent people who do not have med- called a zygote, blastocyst, embryo, or tional deprivation and trauma that many ical knowledge eventually disappear, with fetus, it does not have all the attributes of a become psychotic, neurotic, or so full of tremendous benefit to the health of human being and thus cannot properly be hate and violence that they become juve- women. Also, the mortality connected to considered one. nile delinquents and criminals who kill, medical legal abortions decreases to an rape, and maim? When a person is treated amazing degree. In Czechoslovakia in f abortion is always viewed as "inten- badly in his or her childhood, that inner 1978, for instance, the mortality rate was tional murder," why isn't miscarriage violence manifests itself when he or she is two per 100,000 cases; in the United viewed in similar terms? After all, almost grown up. States it was one death per 200,000 abor- half of all embryos are spontaneously The pro-choice philosophy maintains tions, which is extremely low and com- shed in what is called "miscarriage" or that the availability of good medical abor- pares favorably with the mortality rate for "spontaneous abortion." If spontaneous tions protects the health and fertility of most surgical procedures. abortions are an "act of God," to use the women and allows children to be born Another medical benefit is that the common religious expression, is it not into homes where they can receive love, mortality of women in childbirth also strange that God has so little concern for care, affection, and respect for their decreases in countries where abortion is 18 FREE INQUIRY
legal and the medical manpower exists to from having been abused or cruelly medicine, preventive psychiatry, and pre- provide quality services. This is because treated as children. Why is that? Because vention of violent crime. the high-risk patients like adolescents, many women who a generation ago were I predicted a decline in crime and older women, and women with diseases obliged to carry any pregnancy to term mental illness twenty-five years ago often choose not to continue a high risk now have had the opportunity to choose when I started my campaign to make pregnancy; consequently, the women who medical abortion when they were not abortion in Canada legal and safe. I took go through childbirth are healthier and ready to assume the burden and obliga- a long time for this prediction to come better able to withstand the stresses of tions of motherhood. true. I expect that conditions will get bet- childbirth; thus, the infant mortality and Crimes of violence are very often per- ter as more and more children are born neonatal mortality has decreased consis- petrated by persons who unconsciously into families that want and deserve them tently in all countries where abortion has want revenge for the wrongs they suffered with joy and anticipation. become available. as children. This need to satisfy an inner It is safe to assume that there has been But probably the biggest benefit of urge for vengeance results in violence a similar decrease in mental and emo- legalized abortion and the one with the against children, women, members of tional illness due to the fact that fewer greatest impact is that the number of minority groups, or anyone who becomes unwanted children are being born. unwanted children is decreasing. Children a target of hate by the perpetrator. Consequently fewer children suffer the who are abused, brutalized, or neglected Children who have been deprived of love emotional deprivation or abuse that is are more likely to become neurotic, psy- and good care, who have been neglected often associated with being unwanted and chotic, or criminal elements of society. or abused, suffer tremendous emotional undesired. It would be interesting to see They become individuals who do not care harm that may cause mental illness, diffi- appropriate studies to that effect, and I about themselves or others, who are prone culty in living, and an inner rage that postulate that they would show a dramatic to violence, who are filled with hatred for eventually erupts in violence when they decrease in the overall incidence of men- society and for other people; if the num- become adolescents and adults. tal illness. ber of such individuals decreases, the wel- Most of the serial killers were Medical abortions on request and good fare of society increases proportionately. neglected and abused children, deprived quality care in this area are a tremendous One of the most surprising and benefi- of love. Paul Bernardo and Clifford Olson advance not only toward individual cial changes going on in both the United would fit in that category. Both Hitler and health and the dignity of women, but also States and Canada has been the tremen- Stalin were cruelly beaten by their fathers toward a more loving, caring, and more dous decrease in crime, especially violent and carried so much hate in their hearts responsible society, a society where crime such as murder, rape and aggra- that when they attained power they caused cooperation rather than violence will pre- vated assault. This trend over the last four millions of people to die without remorse. vail. Indeed, it may be our only hope to years has been proven by impressive sta- It is accepted wisdom that prevention is survive as a human species and to pre- tistics collected by the Federal Bureau of better than a cure. To prevent the birth of serve intelligent life on this planet in Investigators and the police forces of the unwanted children by family planning, view of the enormous destructive power United States and Canada. The decrease birth control, and abortion is preventive that mankind has accumulated. in violent crime is about 8% every year over the last four years. That is quite an impressive trend. Statistics from the province of Quebec, just released April 4, 1996, show a decrease in criminal offenses of 15% every year over the last three years and a decrease of 8% for vio- lent crime. There has been a 30% decrease in crime in New York State, e.g. and many similar statistics in other areas are surprising and extraordinary in view of the prevailing economic uncertainties and disruptions of modern life. What is the explanation? Some demographers explain this by the fact that there are fewer young men around, and it is mostly young men who commit crimes. No doubt this is true, but what is even more important is that among these young men likely to commit offenses there are fewer who carry an inner rage and vengeance in their hearts
Summer 1996 19 rylhe right to legal abortion is a rela- that many elements of our society are cause. The struggle for reproductive free- 1. new achievement, only about recalcitrant and are obstructing this dom, including the right to safe, medical twenty-five years old in most countries. It progress. They act out of blind obedience abortion, could be classified as one of is part of the growing movement of to dogma, tradition, and past conditions those great ideas whose time has come. women toward emancipation, toward and are hankering for the times when Enormous progress has been made in achieving equal status with men, toward women were oppressed and considered many countries, including the United being recognized as full, responsible, only useful for procreation, housework, States and Canada. But in many other equal members of society. We are living in and the care of children. countries, legal abortion is still not avail- an era where women, especially in the The real problems in the world—star- able. With the beneficial effects of Western world, are being recognized as vation, misery, poverty, and the potential women's access to abortion and reproduc- equal, where the enormous human poten- for global violence and destruction—call tive freedom so obvious to so many peo- tial of womankind is finally being for- concerted action on the part of gov- ple, why is there still so much violent acknowledged and accepted as a valuable ernments, institutions, and society at large opposition to it? I believe it is due to the reservoir of talent. However, women can- to effectively control overpopulation. It is fact that people who are bound to tradi- not achieve their full potential unless they imperative to control human fertility and tional religious attitudes resent the newly have freedom to control their bodies, to to only have children who can be well acquired freedom of women and want to control their reproductive capacity. Unless taken care of, receiving not only food, turn the clock back. they have access to safe abortions to cor- shelter, and education, but also the emo- Taboos and practices regarding human rect the vagaries of biological accidents, reproduction and sexuality were written they cannot pursue careers, they cannot be into religious teachings hundreds of years equal to men, they cannot avail themselves "Women across the world have to ago, which were then written into the laws of the various opportunities theoretically be granted the rights and dignity of the country. Laws on abortion were open to all members of our species. The they deserve as full members of the introduced long before science enlight- emancipation of women is not possible human community. This would ened us with the facts concerning embry- without reproductive freedom. naturally include the right to safe ological development. For instance, in the The full acceptance of women might medical abortions on request in an Catholic church it was thought that, at the have the enormous consequence of human- atmosphere of acceptance of moment of conception, a fully formed izing our species, possibly eliminating war specifically female needs and in the person, termed a homunculus, lived in the and conflict, and adding a new dimension spirit of the full equality of women mother's womb, and had only to develop to the adventure of mankind. Civilization and men in a more human and to a certain size to be expelled from it. has had many periods of advance and humane society.' That belief was held in the distant past, regression, but overall it has seen an almost but the effect of the imagery still remains, steady progression toward the recognition tional sustenance that comes from a lov- resulting in the Catholic belief that abor- of minorities as being human and their ing home and parents who can provide tion is the murder of a live human being. acceptance into the overall community. It love, affection, and care. Historically, and even up to this day, has happened with people of different In order to achieve this, women across men hold the authority in all the major nationalities and races. It has happened the world have to be granted the rights religions of the world. In most countries with prisoners of war, who could be treated and dignity they deserve as full members men are also heads of state and lawmak- mercilessly. It has happened quite recently, of the human community. This would nat- ers. In science and medicine, men tradi- actually, with children, who were in many urally include the right to safe medical tionally hold the reigns of authority and societies considered the property of parents abortions on request in an atmosphere of power, only recently allowing women and could be treated with brutality and acceptance of specifically female needs entry into these fields. Is it any wonder senseless neglect. It is only a few genera- and in the spirit of the full equality of then, that laws and attitudes regarding tions ago that we recognized how impor- women and men in a more human and abortion took so long the change? But tant it is for society to treat children with humane society. now these attitudes are changing, and respect, care, love, and affection, so that Somebody has said that it is impossible women around the world are gradually they become caring, loving, affectionate, to stop the success of an idea whose time acquiring more power and more control of responsible adults. has come. But good ideas come and go. their reproductive capacities. Unfor- Finally, many countries now recognize Occasionally they are submerged for long tunately, organized religions, propelled by the rights of women to belong fully to the periods of time due to ignorance, tradi- traditional dogma and fundamentalist human species, and have given them free- tion, resistance to change, and the vested rhetoric, are fueling the fires of the anti- dom from reproductive bondage and interests of those frightened by change. choice movement with lying, inflamma- allowed them to control their fertility and Occasionally, new and good ideas will tory propaganda and violent rhetoric lead- their own bodies. This is a revolutionary gain slow and grudging acceptance. More ing to riots and murder. The anti-choice advance of great potential significance to often, they will be accepted only after a supporters realize they have lost the bat- the human species. We are in the middle period of struggle and sacrifice by those tle, that public opinion has not been of this revolution, and it is not surprising who are convinced of the justice of their swayed by their diatribes and dogmatic 20 FREE INQUIRY opposition. Consequently, they are angry with a grudge against society? Have all lent abortion services to women in spite of and increasingly engaging in terrorist tac- these people forgotten that an unwanted _ all the threats because we are committed tics. Their recourse to violence, both in pregnancy was the biggest health hazard to protection of women's health and to the the United States and Canada, resulting in to young fertile women and could result in liberation of women, to the empowerment the murder and wounding of doctors per- loss of fertility, long-term illness, injury, of women and couples and to a better forming abortions and the increasing vio- and death? society with freedom for all. I wish to lence directed at abortion providers, is a Let us keep in mind the positive salute all those health professionals who, sign of moral bankruptcy, but unfortu- accomplishments of reproductive freedom in spite of intimidation and threats of nately it places the lives of all physicians that I mentioned earlier. An abortion need death, are continuing every day to treat and medical staff who provide abortions not be a traumatic event; it often is a lib- women with competence, empathy, and in danger. erating experience for the woman, who is compassion. For those who believe that the so- able to make an important decision in her I wish to conclude on a personal note. called pro-life have occupied the high life, who exercises her right to choose Over the years many people have asked moral ground in the debate on abortion, I what is best for her. That is the meaning of me: "Why did you decide to expose your- say, "Rubbish." They have never been on freedom, of empowerment. self to so much stress and danger in a con- a high moral ground, they only pretend to A woman's choice to terminate a preg- troversial cause, and why do you persist in occupy this elevated position by cloaking nancy is both empowering and liberating. doing so?" The answer, after a great deal their oppressive beliefs under the lofty It empowers her because her choice of reflecting upon it, is the following: rhetoric of "the defense of innocent acknowledges that she understands her I am a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust, unborn life" or "the struggle against the options, her current situation, and her that orgy of cruelty and inhumanity of death dealing abortion industry" and sim- future expectations, and she is able to man to man. As such, I have personally ilar misleading and blatantly false propa- make a fully informed decision about what experienced suffering, oppression, and ganda. As well, the recourse by the anti- would most benefit her and act on it. It lib- justice inflicted by men beholden to an choice movement to violence and murder erates her because she can regain control inhuman, dogmatic, irrational ideology. in order to impose their so-called morality of her reproductive system and chart her To relieve suffering, to diminish oppres- on the whole of society certainly robs destiny without an unwanted child in tow. sion and injustice, is very important to them of any credibility. In view of this, it It liberates her to fully care for her existing me. Reproductive freedom and good is hard for me to understand the defeatist family, her career, her emotional and men- access to medical abortion means that attitude of some people in the pro-choice tal well-being, and her goals. women can give life to wanted babies at a community in the United States and their time when they can provide love, care, attempt to justify abortion as a necessary t is our job as abortion providers to and nurturing. Well-loved children grow evil for which we should all apologize. Irespect the choices of women and to into adults who do not build concentration When a feminist with impressive cre- provide abortion services with compe- camps, do not rape, and do not murder. dentials and many books to her credit tence, compassion, and empathy. I wish to They are likely to enjoy life, to love and such as Naomi Wolf talks of abortion as a suggest that under such conditions women care for each other and the larger society. "sin or frivolous," starts feeling guilty do not necessarily view their abortion as By fighting for reproductive freedom, I about it, and wants everyone who is negative, but, on the contrary, and in spite am contributing to a more caring and lov- engaged in providing abortions to repent of regrets at having to make such a choice, ing society based on the ideals of peace, for their sins, there is something definitely see it as a positive and enriching experi- justice and freedom, and devoted to the wrong. Were she alone I could believe it is ence where their choices are respected full realization of human potential. a personal idiosyncrasy. However, there and they are treated with the dignity they Having known myself the depth of human are others in the pro-choice community deserve in such a difficult situation. depravity and cruelty, I wish to do what- who attempt to justify themselves and Doctors and clinic workers have been ever I can to replace hate with love, cru- their actions with an attitude that says, in a stressful situation for many years, elty with kindness, and irrationality with "Yes, we need abortions to help some subject to threats, insults, and moral con- reason. women, but we deplore the fact that we demnation. Over the last four years the This is why I so passionately dedicated have to do them, our hearts are not really threats have escalated from verbal abuse to the cause I defend and why I will con- in it, and it would be nice if we did not to murder. Yet most of us have not given tinue to promote it as long as I have a have to do it." up. Most of us continue to provide excel- valid contribution to offer. • What is going on here? Have all these people forgotten that women used to die Coming in the next issue of FREE INQUIRY! in our countries from self-induced or quack abortions, that unwanted children Martin Gardner on the Incredible Flimflams of were given away to institutions where they suffered enormous trauma that took Margaret Rowen, Part 2; Secularism in India; the joy of life away from them and made and Is Humanism a Religion? them into anxious, depressed, individuals