Episode 57: Abortion and Men, Texting Culture, Can spiritual rebirth cure mental illness? Should the poor pay fewer taxes?

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The Thought Provoker:

Matt is first this week. Exciting new research in the field of male contraceptives has identified a number of medications that a man can take that will make it impossible for him to impregnate a woman. The work is very preliminary at the moment, but the findings suggest that taking the medication has no long term side effects on the man or his ability to produce viable offspring in the future. I always looking for new ways to discourage unwanted pregnancies. I also don't like that abortion policy focuses so much on women and what they should and should not be able to do. It is pretty easy to conduct a paternity test and identify the father of any child. So, is it morally appropriate to mandate that fathers of children who are the offspring of an unwanted pregnancy take one of these safe medications to prevent them from fathering any more unwanted children?

Next up, Sam. Something about texting kids and communication in the modern age.

Finally, Shawn.

Elder Christofferson spoke recently of the rise of clinical depression among teenagers globally, noting that Latter-day Saint youth are not immune. “Church studies of member youth showed that globally in 2018, 29% struggled with clinical levels of anxiety,” he reported. A 2022 systematic review highlighted the alarming global prevalence of depressive symptoms among adolescents aged 10-19, reaching as high as 34 % (Shorey et al., 2022)

In 1995 Matt preached something to me that he learned from elder boyd k packer. “True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. “The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior. ... That is why we stress so forcefully the study of the doctrines of the gospel”

Elder Christofferson offered this surprising statement:

"If we can lead our youth and young adults to spiritual rebirth, depression will evaporate, and any anxiety in their lives, will be quite manageable." "Even death itself cannot threaten their peace once they have been born of the Spirit and have learned to trust in God."

True? Or simplification of a complex, modern challenge?

The Big Question: Many conservatives do not like property or income taxes and look for ways to eliminate or reduce their property or income tax bill. But, governments need money to pay for basic services. What typically happens is that states with low property and income taxes have higher sales tax. Sales tax is one example of a regressive tax because it requires a much greater share of income from low- and middle-income families than from wealthy families to be paid as taxes. The lower one’s income, the higher one’s overall effective state and local tax rate. On average, the lowest-income 20 percent of taxpayers face a state and local tax rate nearly 60 percent higher than the top 1 percent of households. Is it morally wrong for the government to require poor people to pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes than wealthy individuals?