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Santorum attacks the Netherlands on euthanasia

Wrong thread title.

It should read "Santorum blatantly lies about Netherlands and euthanasia".
 
bigjelmapro said:
Plenty of Dutch that are still protestant.
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Or Catholic. Many are New Agers. And we have a bunch of Muslims too. Not a lot of Jews though because of... well it's a long and horrible story.

There is no evidence for the claim that we're "overwhelmingly atheist". I also don't think the evidence is there because few people who don't believe in God will identify themselves as "atheist", because whether you believe in God or not really isn't that much of an issue. You can even be active in the Christian Democratic party without anyone ever asking you whether or not you believe in some God.
 
Earthborn said:
Or Catholic. Many are New Agers. And we have a bunch of Muslims too. Not a lot of Jews though because of... well it's a long and horrible story.

There is no evidence for the claim that we're "overwhelmingly atheist". I also don't think the evidence is there because few people who don't believe in God will identify themselves as "atheist", because whether you believe in God or not really isn't that much of an issue. You can even be active in the Christian Democratic party without anyone ever asking you whether or not you believe in some God.
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I know a researcher on disbelief who described Denmark very similar to how you describe Holland.

He said he had a difficult time finding any atheist organizations there, and when he did, they were mostly just a handful of Americans. The idea of an atheist organization was very foreign to them.

But he also said there were no mega-churches, electioneering from the pulpit, or anything like that which would perhaps lead to the need for people to band together against discrimination for beliefs they don't have.

ETA: BTW, my ancestors immigrated to the U.S. from the Netherlands in the mid-19th Century. According to the "logic" of many of the protestants we have here, you should not continue to exist! ;) Somehow, I suspect there's quite a difference between your protestants and our protestants!
 
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Earthborn said:
Or Catholic. Many are New Agers. And we have a bunch of Muslims too. Not a lot of Jews though because of... well it's a long and horrible story.

There is no evidence for the claim that we're "overwhelmingly atheist". I also don't think the evidence is there because few people who don't believe in God will identify themselves as "atheist", because whether you believe in God or not really isn't that much of an issue. You can even be active in the Christian Democratic party without anyone ever asking you whether or not you believe in some God.
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According to the CBS 44% was not-religious in 2009. I'd hardly call that overwhelming.
 
Netherlands Religions - Demographics

www.indexmundi.com › Netherlands › Demographics
Religions: Roman Catholic 30%, Protestant 20% (Dutch Reformed 11%, Calvinist 6%, other Protestant 3%), Muslim 5.8%, other 2.2%, none 42% (2006) ...
 
Gord_in_Toronto said:
Netherlands Religions - Demographics

www.indexmundi.com › Netherlands › Demographics
Religions: Roman Catholic 30%, Protestant 20% (Dutch Reformed 11%, Calvinist 6%, other Protestant 3%), Muslim 5.8%, other 2.2%, none 42% (2006) ...
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My catholic wife is a an atheist.
My protestant dad is an atheist.
My Jewish colleague is an atheist.
My Muslim friend is an atheist.

Anecdotal, but I think that those numbers don't reflect reality.
 
Eddie Dane said:
My catholic wife is a an atheist.
My protestant dad is an atheist.
My Jewish colleague is an atheist.
My Muslim friend is an atheist.

Anecdotal, but I think that those numbers don't reflect reality.
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I think they're informative, but I agree they definitely don't tell the whole story. (Personally, I'm one of those "Catholic atheists", but if I were responding to a survey about faith, I'd put "atheist" because I understand they're not asking about my family.)

And I think comparing a Dutch protestant with an American protestant (of the sort that wants to teach creationism in public school science classes or who participates in faith healing services) is comparing apples and oranges.
 
Eddie Dane said:
My catholic wife is a an atheist.
My protestant dad is an atheist.
My Jewish colleague is an atheist.
My Muslim friend is an atheist.

Anecdotal, but I think that those numbers don't reflect reality.
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I 'spose. My Dutch grandfather was an atheist atheist.

Not sure what this means. :(
 
Tricky said:
How do you know he's not? He could be doing some elaborate "performance art" thing. He even looks a little bit like Andy Kauffman.
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My earlier observation holds: comedians stay much closer to reality than Santorum does.
 
Nogbad said:
I find it hard to believe that a serious contender (is he a serious contender?) would talk such complete and utter tripe. Was he competing in a lobotomy competition or something?
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It would all be highly entertaining if he wasn't running for president of the US. :boxedin:
 
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Santorum Campaign Responds To Dutch Euthanasia Outrage

In an impromptu interview with Dutch television station RTL4, Santorum press secretary Alice Stewart offered no explanation for Santorum's use of outdated and exaggerated figures on the number of assisted suicide deaths in the country, which has spurred outrage in The Netherlands. Stewart's defense: the former Pennsylvania Senator is “a strong pro-life person.”
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So apparently facts don't matter, only ideology.

 
Do Republicans want sick people to hurry up and die or not? Wish they'd quit waffling.
 
Maybe he was talking about Pennsylvania "Dutch."

Which would explain why he's no longer the U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania.
 
Puppycow said:
Santorum Campaign Responds To Dutch Euthanasia Outrage



So apparently facts don't matter, only ideology.

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WTF? The guy asked three times and each time the spokesperson said "Rick is pro-life."


ETA: I wish the reporter had said, "perhaps you are using an American idiom of which I am not aware: does "pro-life" mean "make **** up while hoping nobody actually checks the figures"?
\
MORE ETA: I wonder if I could make money selling "Do not euthanize me" bracelets. Maybe "Don't euthanize me, bro " t-shirts would be more profitable.
 
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