“Religion has a history of outrage when, in their view, science is interfering with God's will. The horror displayed at the first heart transplant followed by Catholic opposition to the Pill are just two examples of a list that if followed would have kept medicine in the early 20th century.”
Simon Marshland
“Hundreds of million of [Irish] taxpayers' Euros are spent on running Catholic hospitals each year. The State provides the vast bulk of the funding for these hospitals, and has paid, over the years for developments at these institutions. Yet much of the ownership and governance of these hospitals is still vested in religious orders or members of a clergy who have a less than glorious recent history in catering for the needs of the vulnerable in our society, in particular to the needs of children. In this respect, their moral authority to own and run hospitals must be questioned.”
Niall Hunter
“What is it about faith that makes world leaders like George Bush and Tony Blair – with armies, bombers, missiles, artillery and navies – ignore good advice, abandon good sense and lead their countries to two of the stupidest wars in history? And while they're at it, to radically change the moral positions that their countries adopted just 60 years ago and commit what were then called war crimes: initiating a war of aggression, torture and the failure to provide for the populations of the countries they occupied?”
“Let the church render to the bishop the things that are religious, and to medicine the things that are medical. If the Catholic church can't deal with science, it can go back to the Middle Ages. Hospitals can do without bishops a whole lot easier than they can without doctors and nurses.”
Recovering Catholic
“The notion that religious medical facilities could legally allow women to die from treatable conditions inside their doors cannot be permitted in a religiously pluralistic society.”