<div id=":b5" class="ii gt adP adO" style><div id=":b6"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;text-align:left;line-height:19px"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:24px;font-family:Georgia,serif">Greetings:</span></p>
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<font face="Georgia, serif" size="3"><span style="line-height:24px">Those who take the Daily News may have seen John Carlson's column and my letter response. This is a longer version of that.</span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;text-align:left">
<font face="Georgia, serif" size="3"><span style="line-height:24px"><br></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;text-align:left"><font face="Georgia, serif" size="3"><span style="line-height:24px">What I found most interesting in researching this column was the strong correlation between high rates of cohabitation (Scandinavia) and high levels of child well being. The highest rates of child deaths due to abuse and neglect in the developed world are found in the U.S. and highest in pro-family Texas. The full version is attached.</span></font></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:24px;font-family:Georgia,serif">Yours for far less religious fanaticism,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;text-align:left;line-height:19px">
<span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:24px;font-family:Georgia,serif"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;text-align:left;line-height:19px"><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px">Nick</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;text-align:center;line-height:19px"><b><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:24px;font-family:Georgia,serif">TRADITIONAL MORAL VALUES AND </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;text-align:center;line-height:19px"><b><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:24px;font-family:Georgia,serif">SOCIALLY DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIORS</span></b></p>
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</p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><i><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19px;font-family:Georgia,serif;letter-spacing:-0.1pt">We have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way<br clear="all">
of the spirit and not in the old way of the written code.</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19px;font-family:Georgia,serif;letter-spacing:-0.1pt">~The Apostle Paul, Romans 7:6</span></p>
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<i><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19px;font-family:Georgia,serif;letter-spacing:-0.1pt">The true Christian seeks to preserve rights in the name of love <br clear="all">rather than impose right belief in the name of law.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;text-indent:0.5in"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:19px;font-family:Georgia,serif;letter-spacing:-0.1pt">~Liberal Christian Robert Alley</span></p>
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</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;text-align:left"><span style="text-align:-webkit-auto;font-size:12pt;line-height:24px;font-family:Georgia,serif">For decades those on the Religious Right have claimed that liberals have been the cause of the socially destructive behaviors that plague our society.</span><span style="line-height:19px;text-align:-webkit-auto"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:24px;font-family:Georgia,serif;background-image:initial;background-color:white"> The evidence, however, clearly shows that the social costs have been much greater in the conservative South than in more liberal states. </span></span></p>
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<span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Taxpayers pay huge amounts for the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, but the top six states for cases of syphilis, Chlamydia, and gonorrhea infection are Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Alabama.</span></p>
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<span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">The Bible Belt also leads the way in teen pregnancies and births. In 2005 the U.S. national average was 40 teen births per 1,000 for girls 15-17.</span><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px;text-indent:82px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"> </span><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px;text-indent:82px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">The average for 11 southern states was 54, but only 25 for the liberal New England states. If one deletes African-Americans and Hispanics from the calculation, the figure is 40, but the national average then drops to 26.</span><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px;text-indent:82px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"> </span></p>
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<span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">The abuse of prescription drugs has become a great problem.</span><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px;text-align:-webkit-auto;text-indent:82px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"> </span><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px;text-align:-webkit-auto;text-indent:82px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Traditional value states also rank high here as well: Nevada, Arizona, Iowa, Kentucky, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Washington, and Rhode Island.</span></p>
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<span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">The psychological and financial costs of divorce are also very high, but in 2009 Southern women split from their spouses at a rate of 11.1 per 1,000, while only 7.5 of their Northeastern sisters did.</span></p>
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<span style="text-align:-webkit-auto;text-indent:82px;font-size:12pt;line-height:24px;font-family:Georgia,serif">What does it look like in the rest of the world? </span><span style="text-align:-webkit-auto;text-indent:82px;font-size:12pt;line-height:24px;font-family:Georgia,serif">In 2009 the number of teen births for young women ages 15-19 was 1.8 per 1,000 Confucian/Buddhist South Koreans, 2.5 in Confucian Hong Kong, 4.9 in Buddhist/Confucian Japan, and 5.2 in Confucian Singapore. Using data from 2006-2009, the average for 36 European nations (including a declining Russia and conservative Poland) was 15.4 teen births per 1,000.</span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:24px;font-family:Georgia,serif">With record low church attendance and far fewer who call themselves believers, Europeans have now moved to what some have called a “post-Christian” civilization. Significant, however, is the fact that these non-believing Europeans are obviously not immoral people. The same is true for liberal Americans, who are so often criticized for having no ethical standards.</span></p>
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<span style="text-indent:82px"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:24px;font-family:Georgia,serif">High European cohabitation rates (56 percent of Swedes) for example, have not led to more socially destructive behaviors or reduced child well being. Significantly enough, the highest rates of American cohabitation are found on the West Coast and in New England.</span></span></p>
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<span style="text-indent:82px"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:24px;font-family:Georgia,serif">According to a 2001 UNICEF report, deaths from child abuse are highest in the U.S. at 2.4 per 100,000 and lowest in Germany at .8 child deaths. Pro-family Texas has the highest rate deaths (4 children per 100,000) and New Hampshire has the lowest at .35.</span></span><span style="text-indent:82px"><span style="font-size:4.5pt;line-height:9px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-image:initial;background-color:white"> </span></span><span style="text-indent:82px"><span style="font-size:4.5pt;line-height:9px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-image:initial;background-color:white"> </span></span></p>
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<span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px">Without much further study, I can only speculate about what the difference is.</span><span style="text-indent:82px;font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px"> </span><span style="text-indent:82px;font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px">In my own research on the origins of religious violence, I have found that religious people who practice basic morality without insisting on one particular creed are far less violent than those who put orthodoxy over orthopraxis.</span></p>
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<span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px">When I look back at my own conversion to Christianity (one that did not last very long) I can now see that the main focus was on inviting Jesus into my heart.</span><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px;text-indent:82px"> </span><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px;text-indent:82px">Far less emphasis was placed on developing an ensemble of virtues that would guide me through a successful life.</span><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px;text-indent:82px"> </span></p>
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<span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px">I was fortunate to have parents and teachers who instilled in me the virtues of moderation, self-control, thrift , and patience that have served me very well. Tens of millions of non-church-going people have also learned the virtues from their parents and teachers.</span></p>
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<span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:16px">My conversion may have temporarily saved me, but it did not make me moral, just as mere church going does not make for better people. Asking for forgiveness and doing penance also does not necessarily lead to virtuous lives.</span><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;text-indent:82px"> </span><span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;text-indent:82px">Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, who has switched religions as many times as he has changed spouses, claims that he is a more mature person now, but there are probably many Americans who may doubt that.</span></p>
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<span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px">Is the Religious Right the new Pharisees who, like the biblical ones, excluded rather than included and preached a mere moralism and not true morality?</span></p>
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<span style="font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px">Nick Gier taught religion and philosophy at the University of Idaho for 31 years. </span></p><div class="yj6qo" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
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