Asked "do you believe in the faith you follow through choice?" I would expect most respondents would answer "yes", yet this is clearly not the case and is largely true only for people who have converted from one faith to another. A child growing up in Belfast with Protestant parents, Protestant grand-parents and Protestant great-grand-parents is going to be Protestant. A child growing up in Italy is 90% certain to be Catholic, a child born and raised in N.E. Thailand is 97% certain to be Buddhist etc etc. Where does the choice come in? Surely for anyone who doesn't question belief in God, the God they follow is down not to choice but to geography - does this not make a mockery of belief?

When does one "become" a philosopher?

What use are philosophers to Modern Society? I mean, in the eyes of modern society, the objective in life is to earn a living, and how best to earn it. But we can't seem to put to use knowledge like "Whether absolute truth exist". So is there more to it, or are we mere entertainers to satisfy human inquiries that could just be disregarded and forgotten later on?

Mary Warnock says we have a right to have children. It's a question I asked myself in the waiting room of a fertility clinic as I was registering for IVF treatment - it's a question I continuing asking myself as I see more and more gay fathers flying off to exotic lands for their offspring through surrogacy. How can we conciliate the right to have children with the exploitation of women? Best regards Pensiero Rome, Italy

It is said that happiness comes from within - that no one can make you happy. However, some people do bring out the best in us (people we fall in love with) and others bring out the worst in us (people we dislike). So the statement that happiness comes from within is not entirely true. What is your opinion?

Can one tolerate something, someone, etc. indefinitely or is there a limit? If there is a limit is there any way of re-igniting tolerance? For instance, if a person in an unhappy marriage, tolerates the situation for a long time (e.g., for the sake of the children) but eventually is unable to put up with the situation - no danger, violence, etc. - just dislike, contempt, etc., for the spouse - is there any way of re-igniting tolerance?

Hi there! I wanted to re-open a question that was posted a couple of years ago, by probing a bit further. This is what "Mario" asked [http://www.askphilosophers.org/question/1142]: "Does the individual consciousness depend on the actual atoms or only on the configuration of the atoms? Suppose we have mastered cryo-freezing and atom-manipulation technology. We can freeze and unfreeze people at will. We freeze Sarah. We replace Sarah's atoms one by one. With all atoms replaced, we wake her up. Is it the "same" Sarah? (the same to herself, not just to us)." I'd like to add that I recently heard that over a few years, every single cell in our bodies is replaced, except for a few memory cells that last much longer. But given during our lives, we WILL eventually be composed of different atoms to those with which we started, and that it is generally agreed that we nevertheless remain the same "people"/"consciousnesses" throughout, where does that leave us? If it means that it must be structure/organization of...

Suppose Big Company Inc. supports a controversial Initiative X, endorsing the legislation and donating millions to PACs in favor of it. I, for one, hate Initiative X, and have taking personal action (eg. protests, letters to my senator) to try and kill it. Would I be justified to boycott Big Company's products, in order to spite them for supporting Initiative X? Most people seem to think that's okay, or even commendable. But let's turn the situation around. Suppose I apply for a job at Big Company. Although I am the most qualified candidate, Big Company has heard of my actions to undermine Initiative X. They decide not to hire me, in order to spite me for my political actions. In this case, I seem to have a good reason to get angry, or even sue. From a moral perspective, are these two situations different? Or is the supposed discrepancy simply a result of our tendency to empathize with the weak (me), as opposed to the strong (Big Company).

Is human cloning immoral? Or can it help more society rather than do it harm?

It's a bit difficult to understand the difference between 'Being' and 'Existence'. From what I know, bring is the state or quality of existing. But to me this state or quality sounds extremely ghostly. Could you please elaborate? Thanks Shamik C. New Delhi India