The Quest For Eden

  What is the role of prison?  In the U.S.A. it is assumed that prison is supposed to serve as a deterrent; the threat of punishment is expected to keep people from committing crimes. Why do we think this system should be working?    Do more prisons equate to less crime? Do more prisons equate to less desire to commit crimes?  Do more prisons equate to less incentive to gain whatever immediate gratification people seem to find in committing the crimes? Without citing any research, I'm going to bet the answer to the previous three questions is "no." And why would that likely be the case? Anyone who knows about the science of Applied Behavior Analysis/Application knows that PUNISHMENT is the least effective way to significantly and/or permanently modify behavior. So - why does the U.S. put all its eggs into expecting punishment to solve crime issues? It's. Because. Christians. Believe. In. A. Punitive. God. I do not believe God believes that punishment solves anything.

  We fight about abortion because we are not seeking solutions. We only want to win "the argument."   There may be a "middle ground" solution, if we can come to understand aspects of the opinions. One group argues that the issue is about "the rights" of a woman to access appropriate medical care. One group argues that the issue is about "the rights" of a zygote to grow to be a healthy human being. The disagreement on priorities is pulled from both ends by morality and science. Morally, we agree that causing death is wrong. Scientifically, we agree that a zygote can not survive without a womb. The problem is not that "women are killing babies," but that the babies exist inside the woman. An equitable solution would need to include scientific methodology for permitting a zygote to develop healthfully outside the womb. An equitable solution would include guaranteed financing for the health and support of children from the zygote stage and

  I live in the United States of America. It is not very united these days. I feel that much of the underlying divisiveness stems from the vague words we hear used to describe what it means to "be American." We use words like Freedom, Independence, & Rights. Similarly, most Major world Religions seldom seem to be consistently united in their concerns and convictions. Again, this may be related to the words that are central to each Religious community. Words are used like Salvation, Sin, & Justification. All of these words are open and vague. All of these words require interpretation and opposition to have meaning. Freedom from __? Independence of _____? Rights in regard to ___? Salvation from _____? Sin defined by ______? Justification for _____?   Every individual has feelings about what these words should mean. Since no two people seem to agree on what Freedom, Salvation, or what Rights are; people are consistently at odds.   What I think has happened is many leader