<p>is there a good reason we resurrected this post...it's been dead for almost 9 months?</p>
<p>It was a "featured" discussion. Whoooops.</p>
<p>Well, since it has been revived, it may be worth noting that umbilical cord stem cells can be used as well- which are very simlar in nature to fetal stem cells.</p>
<p>This thread has so many errors I don't even know where to begin. You all need to do your homework before you post this nonsense.</p>
<p>that tends to happen in a debate, but thanks for your analysis ghippleh. I am not sure what errors you are talking about but it is good to know that you are above the other posters and superior. I bow before you.</p>
<p>Seriously though, if there are mistakes that you see then challenge them, but don't assert your supremacy over others like this... it just causes nothing but anger and hostility. It rubbed me the wrong way and I do not believe I even posted in this thread!</p>
<p>also with stem cell research there is something that is called SCNT, or somatic cell nuclear transfer, which is where you transfer the nucleus from a diploidic cell into an egg which has had its nucleus removed and you can created stem cells that way.</p>
<p>not to be rude towards you irishmeghan23, but why comment on a thread - admittedly with a valid point in your opinion - when the principle posters are not very active on the board anymore? It was dead for almost a year before being brought back. Why it was brought back is another matter...</p>
<p>It was brought back as a mistake, a poster saw it under the "featured threads" up top and responded. They really should get rid of that...</p>
<p>i know that person admitted to this above...I'm just amazed at the fact people keep posting on this...</p>
<p>I can give a student perspective from a few decades ago, having graduated in 1984. I also have a son who is a sophomore there.</p>
<p>I was a born-and-bred Catholic who settled into agnosicism, bordering on atheism, when I was a student there. I returned to Catholicism when my first child was born--childbirth has a way of rekindling religious faith!</p>
<p>There is no doubt that Notre Dame is a very Catholic university, as signs of it abound. Roughly half the students come from Catholic high schools, as both my son and I did. That being said, Catholics are a little more close-to-the-belt and low key with their faith than, say, some fundamentalist Christians might be. There was never any pressure to go to Mass, and I seldom did. From what my son tells me, it's pretty much the same up there these days. The opportunities are everywhere, but no one is pushing it down your throat.</p>
<p>If you are concerned about being ostracized for your Judaism or feeling pressured to be something you are not, I never saw that happen up there, nor has my son. If, however, you feel uncomfortable with that which isn't purely secular, you might not find it a good fit. Chances are, if you are the kind of person who has managed to march to your own drummer quite comfortably where you are right now, as I marched to mine, you will find enough like-minded people to feel at home.</p>
<p>Funny thing is, I seldom went to mass there--don't know that I did at all the last few years--and yet the place is built for reflection and soul-searching, of which I did plenty. There is no better place to get in touch with your own soul than walking around those lakes at night... </p>
<p>Wash U is in my home town and my brother attended undergrad there. They are dramatically different campuses, with a different on-campus mindset. If Wash U is your first choice and you are looking for a backup, there are many high quality schools on a par with Notre Dame much more akin to the campus atmosphere--Northwestern and U of Chicago come immediately to mind. </p>
<p>I personally think the place is awesome and still return nearly every summer to walk the lakes when it is quiet and peaceful. It isn't, however, for everyone. I remember too well the kids who chose Notre Dame more for the name than the experience--they were the ones who were dreadfully unhappy and left after the first year. </p>
<p>Hope this helps...</p>
<p>Oops, just realized that this has become a stem cell debate string! Who put it in featured discussions?</p>
<p>Aren't there other websites for the stem cell thing?</p>
<p>Just to clarify, the person earlier in this thread talking about how Catholicism conflicts with evolution seems to be confusing Catholics with other Christian denominations. Catholics accept evolution and do not take the bible literally in many instances, the story of Adam and Eve is said to be symbolic. It is other Christian denominations that believe in creationism and that take the bible literally.</p>
<p>I don't know if they've mentioned this, but it really sucks when they stop serving meat on Fridays in the dining halls in observance of Lent!!!</p>
<p>Thanks for bump!</p>
<p>does the religious aspect of ND interfere with its science departments (evolution, big bang, carbon dating etc dont mesh too well with catholocism) </p>
<p>That isnt catholiscm, that is fundamentalism</p>
<p>I don’t go to Notre Dame, but I go to a Jesuit high school…I was an atheist before I went to school because I was so disillusioned with the catechism at my hometown parish. They actually told us that masturbation was a sin…ugh. Then I go to this high school, and the teachers are amazing, know more than any people I’ve ever met - and they’re all devout Catholics. My favorite was my biology teacher in freshman year - an absolutely brilliant guy - and when someone asked him about evolution and its religious significance and he said that he believed that scientific discoveries were God revealing the world to us slowly and surely…and in our theology class, we actually debated whether or not the Church’s positions were right, and not half-heartedly - theology quickly became my favorite class.</p>
<p>People don’t realize that most Catholics in the world are staunch, social-justice liberals. They’re just pro-life. There’s a sizable minority of the conservative type here in America, though… IMO in politics abortion and fiscal policies should never be related anyways.</p>
<p>Something I found, as a current sophomore, is that the issue with religion here (at least my issue) isn’t that people discriminate. Not at all. I have also never heard anyone trying to force their beliefs or convert anyone else. Instead, the problem is that the people here tend to all have very similar mindsets. This manifests itself in discussions both inside and outside of the classroom. It can sometimes be hard to have good classroom experiences, depending on what class it is, when almost everyone has the same worldview.</p>
<p>My theology class doesn’t leave a lot of room for alternate approaches to Catholicism. My prof doesn’t care what our personal beliefs are, he just wants to know about Catholicism. It’s difficult to write my papers because I have to make inferences about a religion and I have no idea if they make sense since I have no religious background. And I don’t like having to compromise my personal beliefs to get an A. </p>
<p>But I think my prof is an extreme case because everyone else I’ve talked to seems to have a more open Theo class.</p>
<p>Alessandra, that’s like going into a Western Civ class and trying to talk about the Chinese Civil War…most theology courses are histories of Catholicism, reading the bible, etc, not a period to discuss your personal religious views. </p>
<p>They actually are very open classes, in that my teachers (some priests) always take into account our opinions, as long as they pertain to the subject…such as me saying that priests should be able to marry because the presbyters in the early church could, etc - there’s a lot of great discussion there.</p>
<p>And BTW, don’t forget that the driving force behind our current university system and the systems of discussion we have were pretty much all created or refined by Jesuit priests…</p>
<p>I can sympathize with Alessandra. I once took a course on Milton, and even though I had never read Milton the prof still insisted on talking about him. Imagine. Not only that, he was totally uninterested in MY idea of paradise, and I felt as if I had to compromise my ignorance of the seventeenth-century Protestant world view.</p>