"...but there was no room for an abortion clinic at the Inn."
Abortion is a hot topic, as is religious expression, and when the two come together the emotions run wild, tempers flare and much saliva is spilled.
The Catholic Church is one of the great modernising religions. They were one of the first to accept evolution as fact, for instance, and they actively preach in their St. Whatevers to their flock to not read the Bible, and instead rely on sermons in the church on Sundays for their Biblical studies (which, by the way, was one of the reasons for the Reformation, because those uppity Protestants wanted to be able to read the Bible for themselves).
But in the case of divorces, condoms and abortions, the Catholics cling to their long-held doctrines with sticky papal hands.
Currently, in Victoria, there is a Bill before Parliament that will ease even further the state's abortion laws, and one of the points of the Bill will require hospitals to give automatic abortion referrals to women seeking such.
Problem is of course, the Catholic Church owns and operates six of the major hospitals, and in today's Age, Archbishop Denis Hart has come out and threatened the state with closure of every one of these hospitals should the Bill pass through parliament.
Drawing a bow as long as Flemington's 'straight six', Archbishop Hart claims the new laws, "makes a mockery of the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and the Equal Opportunity Act."
Hmm, I would have thought the very opposite is true.
I would have thought that writing a referral for a woman seeking an abortion is the very essence of Human Rights.
But, in the Catholic Church's defence, they are a religious organisation and they have a right to run their religion as they see fit so long as they adhere to the laws of the state. As such, they have a further right to lobby the state and influence what these laws are.
But threatening to close necessary and exemplary hospitals smacks of a petulant boy grabbing his bat and ball and storming home because he's not winning the cricket match. Surely, they could make a referral and then maybe chuck in a Bible passage or somesuch stapled to the back.
For my own part, I don't like abortion when it's a form of 'oops, I was too drunk to get out a dinger*' contraception. God knows, if I got a chick up the duff I'd do everything in my power to convince her to give life to my Greek-Godly seed, but I still think it's an inalienable human right of women and that the Micky Finns need to learn to get their collective Mary-worshipping heads around it.
*Dinger: I haven't used that word in YEARS.
ADDENDUM:
I just read the article closer. he's not threatening to close down the whole hospitals, just the Emergency Deaprtment and the Maternity Wards... which is what these hospitals are renowned for.
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22 comments:
Close their hostpitals? Lose all that revenue? Surrrreee they will. Not.
I can't agree with you on your flimsy attempts to paint the Catholic Church in a kindlier light either, PQ. 'Great modernising religions' my shiny metal anal rosary beads.
I mean 'modernising' in that they are cool with science. Generally, they are good at adapting (albeit slowly) to current intellectual thought which is why they've managed to last so long.
The Adventists and Baptists are still running around claiming the Earth is 6,000 years old, for instance.
one of the points of the Bill will require hospitals to give automatic abortion referrals to women seeking such
Hullsie, aka Victorian Attorney-General Rob Hulls, was on the radio this morning pointing out that automatic abortion referrals already exits in the current system.
The Bill before the Victorian Parliament will not change this and his Eminence Archbishop Denis Hart should get his hand off his dick.
What a cunt.
I'd like him to get knocked up and then see how he feels.
I say hand the hospitals over to the Pastafarians
I see the Archbis trots out this old chesnut again.
"That has to be respected in the community."
Well, fuck that.
Fuck your religious sensibilities. As doctors your first responsibility to to your patients - if you don't understand that, then you shouldn't be in the doctoring caper.
I'm with Boogeyman this one PQ.
The only reason the Catholic Church has made a few token consessions to Reality in recent years is in a desparate attempt to claw back some market share.
Modernising my arse.
I'm part of a group who have , for the last five years been financing a Medical Centre and Orphanage in Kisumu Kenya for HIV infected Kids.
We've tryed a lot of different therapies, mainstream and alternative, with some incouraging outcomes.
But the Church forbids the use of condoms, so infected kids are being born every day, their parents die every day. One cemetary in Harare is burying 300 people a day. The bodies are being buried standing up, separated by sheets of cardboard to save space.
Until the Church abandons its long held strategy of controlling the populations psyche by controlling its sexuality, people will continue to die needlessly.
/rant
The Philippines has major issues with the Catholic Church as well. The various sub-groups provide significant voting blocs there for the taking.
One of our minions was incredibly depressed when his wife became pregnant again (number 5) as it mean stretching an already tight budget. For those who don't have any money to speak of, things get really desperate.
The link to Spanish feudalism and the Catholic church is one of the stronger reasons why this place is going backwards.
I always have the image in my mind of the Catholic Church clunking along in the modern world like some old jalopy burdened with an unwieldy load while society zooms past.
To be fair to them, the Church did express "regret" about the way they treated Galileo.
In 1992.
359 years later.
A perfect chance to trot out my absolute favourite religious quotes:
"The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully."
Richard Dawkins, "The God Delusion"
And:
"I don't have a problem with God. It's his fan club that I can't stand"
I can't credit that, and I googled it to try.
The Catholic Church is about as defensible as the Nazis. They have certainly been responsible for more unjustifiable deaths.
And they remain as misogynistic as ever.
Wari, do you mean this quote from Mohandas Ghandi?
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
No boogey, but I like it. And it does sort of say the same thing.
I wish we had a Muslim Ghandi, someone needs to talk some sense to them. Moderate Islam can't keep denying responsibility for radical Islam.
Still, Ghandi was a bit of a goose sometimes.
Still, he proposed that were he a German Jew he “would claim Germany as my home” and “challenge” Germans “to shoot me or cast me in the dungeon; I would refuse to be expelled or submit to discriminating treatment. . . . If one Jew or all the Jews were to accept the prescription here offered, he or they cannot be worse off than they are now.”
This in November 1938.
Yeah, right. Because passive resistance is really going to impress the Nazis.
The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully."
Which reminds me PQ, When to we see the much anticipated Leviticus review?
I don't mean to rush you, but I have a couple of Gay friends coming to stay with me soon, and it would be handy to know if it's still OK to kill them.Thx.
Oh I'm no Catholic apologist... hell no. I'm just saying a) they are a religion that accepts science and b) they are a religion and should be allowed to express religion opinion.
Neither of these statements however infer I support them in any way.
I'm the biggest atheist I know. I think they're all childish superstition, and have no place in modern society.
Mr E, if your friends request whatsoever goeth upon the belly, and whatsoever goeth upon all four, or whatsoever hath more feet among all creeping things that creep upon the earth as the evening meal, I think you'll be pretty safe in killing them.
Personally, I think that sounds pretty yummy, but who am I to agrue with Yahweh.
If they pull out before ejaculating you can kill them according to the Bible.
Gay or not.
As with so many things in life, it all comes down to timing.
Thanks for the tips.
The voices say you'e right.
Interesting piece on this in today's Age here.
it's fair enough to be a conscientious objector in this case. you can't force catholics to perform/assist with abortions, nor can you force them to actively refer. but there are always loopholes, as mentioned in that article in today's age, a different type of referral. just refer the patient to a hospital which will help them, which should be part of the counselling process anyway.
also, the catholic church, despite vatican II in the '60s (which was really just an attempt to get more people into church) hasn't really moved with the times, all the archaic teachings are still in place. i'm not sure about the moving with science thing. did they officially accept the science of evolution? they're still teaching the primary kids about adam and eve, and not as an allegory either. and go to a full mass, almost die from all the incense and crap, and you'll see the very antithesis of modernity.
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