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16th June 2010

“The Vatican is a sovereign state… Imagine for a moment that a spokesperson for the English, French or German government had issued a statement during our current election campaign saying that the Democratic Party in the United States is ‘the party of death.’ What would our reaction be? I think it would be, ‘Who the heck are they to interfere in our domestic affairs? We don’t tell the English, French, or Germans how to regard one of their own political parties.’ Yet the phrase was used to describe the Democratic Party in a statement issued by the Vatican.”

Laurie Fendrich

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 at 9:27 and is filed under QOTD. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

8 Responses to “16th June 2010”

  1. Atheist MC Says:
    June 16th, 2010 at 11:49

    This relates to this story
    It’s part of a wider issue which is that religion has no mandate to comment on the morality of anything a political party advocates, particularly in a secular state. Morality is a civil concern.

  2. Magsk Says:
    June 16th, 2010 at 12:47

    Morality is much much more than a concern within the civil world. The mandate of involvement in morality is essential to the religious arena.

    The only consideration is one that involves an imposition of one morality set on any other.

  3. PEB Says:
    June 16th, 2010 at 12:52

    Completely agree. Morality is a civil concern and when I see sections in libraries or on the BBC website called “Religion and ethics” I always feel slightly sick.
    The catholic church is an organisation like any other (except richer, more seedy and run by a nazi in a dress). Imagine the head of Coca Cola or Nike announcing to the world that it doesn’t like gay people. They and their companies wouldn’t last a week.

  4. Atheist MC Says:
    June 16th, 2010 at 13:39

    The mandate of involvement in morality is essential to the religious arena.

    It may be essential to religion, that is one of the ways in maintains its pretence to authority. It is not however essential for society to have religious input to ethics.

  5. j sutton Says:
    June 16th, 2010 at 13:41

    In what way is the Vatican a State? Most of its members it claims to represent are citizens of other states which taxes them and gives them a vote. The Vatican leaders are not elected by the people it claims to represent.

    The Vatican is a self serving business dealing in superstition.

  6. Demonaura Says:
    June 16th, 2010 at 14:26

    Of course the vatican is more than qualified to speak on which political parties are evil. I mean, with the crusades of the past and the pedophilia today how could they not be? /end sarcasim

  7. Atheist MC Says:
    June 16th, 2010 at 15:06

    In what way is the Vatican a State?

    It has been since 1929 as a result of a deal done with Mussolini. It only has about 1000 genuine citizens practically all of which are clergy. Some of the “aristocracy” get to elect the leader with a puff of white smoke (or so I’m told).

  8. Bornagain A. Theist Says:
    June 16th, 2010 at 21:38

    Hey, hey, hey…. I’ve had many hundreds (nay, thousands) of puffs of white smoke and I have no authority OR aristocracy.

    WTF is up with that?

    BAT