Scandinavia...

[_Themis]

Bull. I am always up for discussing something. I'm eager to learn. Instead, we usually have something like:

an atheist/agnostic/humanist posts some ridiculous, outlandish, and silly representation of Christianity or Mormonism or both, then all the other aah follow with a lot of butt-slapping and vomitous praise. Generally, one or two jump into the fray with something foul and disgusting designed to be offensive, rather than thought provoking. That post is hailed as the height of comedic brilliance and or the finest example of free speech.

There's no discussions here. There's no exchange of ideas. Which is perfectly fine, but let's not make it what it isn't.

Sorry, don't buy it. There is lots of good discussion here, but I notice you usually only want to make snide comments, while avoiding making any positions yourself to avoid honest criticism. While there is crap that goes on here, you can find it on any forums, even the one populated mostly by religious people.

[_Chap]

And it would appear that our friends are playing fast and loose with the incontrivertible facts that should prompt us all to reject our childish religious beliefs for their more enlightened view.

From the CBO
...

Here's the link: http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=6219&type=0

I encourage anybody who is curious to follow the link, download the pdf of the full report, and read it.

Far from suggesting that the US does not have a serious problem, the report focuses in on one possible cause - the high incidence of low birthweights in the US - and looks at how what it admits is a pretty intractable problem could be approached.

And guess what? One major reason for the pattern of low US birthweight leading to high mortality is given in the report as .... the very high US rate of teen pregnancies. Remember what I posted previously, before reading this report?

In other news - thinking of where babies, and particularly potentially neglected babies who may die young, come from - it is notable that the statistics on teen pregnancy, expressed as the number of births per thousand women aged 15-19, look like this:

Denmark and Sweden: 7 births per 1,000 women aged 15–19 in 2002

United States: 53 births per 1,000 women aged 15–19 in 2002, the highest in the developed world.

Again, doesn't it seem improbable that the US will manage to make this disastrous figure any lower by making itself even more unlike those other two societies in dealing with sexual matters than it is already (by for instance more stress on religious teaching, limiting teaching about human sexuality in schools, insistence on abstinence, restricting access to contraception)?

Just asking.

Seems to me that how one deals with teen pregnancy might be very relevant to the influence of religious conservatives on policy ...

And of course teen pregnancy is a major social disaster for the US in many ways other than its effect on infant mortality, isn't it?