Cases in point - If man were to have evolved from apes, then why do we still have apes? Did some of them miss the Evolution bus?
This is a common misconception about evolution. The science world is not saying that we evolved from apes, it's saying that we both evolved from the same ancestor. Evolution doesn't ONLY allow one branch of a species to continue on. It isn't really survival of the fittest, it's really survival of the ones who can reproduce before dying off. There are many factors that can influence this.
It sounds like most of us here are pretty equal on the abortion issue - give the woman a choice when her own life is on the line early on in the pregnancy, but selfish reasons are not what this society accepts. There are overly religious people out there that want absolutely no abortions under any circumstances. That is what I am talking about. The same goes for the right to end my life in certain circumstances. The problem here is that religious folk tend to think that anyone else is BAD and can never make the right choices. This is not the loving way of life that Jesus was supposed to have spoken about. Don't make uninformed decisions like that about me, and don't do that to yourself either - meaning basically, if you didn't have the bible you would be a terrible person.
ChrisL - interesting. I have always felt that everything is "alive", even a rock, obviously the Earth, the moon, the solar system, the galaxy, the universe.... Some will scoff at that, but they miss the important difference between the extremely short lived aerobic pissing and shitting machines that we call humans, and the much bigger picture of "life" around us. This, I believe, is where the difference in right wing and left wing views on the environment stem from. The right is "me me me" about many topics where the left is willing to make some sacrifices for the good of the whole. They can both be a bit extreme, and due to workings of human nature, these topics become difficult debates where the sides are so far apart they end up taking pot shots at each other but never score a hit.
This all goes back to what I was originally saying. We are an intelligent species. To base major decisions on how we operate as a society on a baseless, factless (new word!) belief system rather than sound knowledge is both frightening and annoying. You can't have those debates when religion enters the picture because religion won't allow any other way. The bible says it's THIS and that's that. Science say it's THIS but will accept new knowledge and will allow change when the whole community agrees. King James, however, can come along and do what he pleases in one fell swoop.
Again, there is much hatred for Obama, but from those people I see hatred for Democrats, no matter who it is. Before you assign Obama to the waste can, please take a look at the Republican party's history. They have done no better. Neither side has the answers, but one side tends to base much of their decisions on a 2000 year old "belief" system as opposed to the ongoing systematic progress of knowledge that we all take part in. Don't give up on yourself so easily; the bible is just a book. Some day we as a species will get beyond that.