Posts by Joe Wylie
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You don't have the right to tell me what's going on in my head. Just because I agree with Church teaching does not mean I have abdicated anything of my own free will.t
I'm not, and even if I were so inclined, I couldn't be bothered. You've had plenty to say about your personal feelings about what you imagine gay sexual practices to be, as if that makes you some kind of independent thinker. Really, who cares? When it comes to the issue of marriage/civil unions, though, you always fall back to citing the "teachings" of the church.
When you say that the church "teaches" this or that, you're merely parroting the current Vatican dogma. Despite the impression you attempt to give, dissent is widespread within the church, particularly on the issue of gay rights. Just because we've had a series of repressive and intolerant Popes doesn't mean that dissenting elements have vanished. At least you've been good enough to acknowledge that dissent, instead of pretending that your own views are representative of all Catholics.
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And, yeah, I do take a little credit for inspiring that doctor to get out the drill and save the boy's life.
You're into saving lives? Somehow I'd got the impression that you were more interested in surgery.
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You’re saying to Tess that people of her religion need to obey the law, not their conscience. You wouldn’t have said that to gays prior to the 80s, nor apparently to Rastafarians who smoke marijuana today.
Tess isn't obeying her conscience. As she's plainly said, on the matter of gay rights she's abdicated that to the "teachings" of her church, which is the same thing as accepting papal authority. It's the old conflict between absolute authority and democracy. There are plenty of catholics who hold far more liberal views than Tess. When she claims to speak for the church as a whole she doesn't.
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But if my compatriots were to stage an armed insurrection against the Vatican, I'd be on the first plane.
You wouldn't pike out, then?
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I kind of got confused thinking she was talking to me, forgetting she probable cant see what I was thinking.
That double-thickness Korean tinfoil from the Bin Inn seems to work pretty good for me.
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So. If I punch Dicky Bird in the face, really hard, in a forest where nobody can see it, does it matter?
Chucky? He'll probably attempt to bite your ankle (cop this, you typical lefty!).
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Oh shit, it was like I got sprung having impure thoughts.
What? Has the catholicism seeped through into this thread too?
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It's the truth, Craig. If Don hadn't allowed himself to be drafted into electoral politics - a career for which he was demonstrably ill-suited - by some very dodgy people, he'd be a much happier man today.
Anyway, you've got Maggie, and Kylie, and probably a whole pantheon of others. Have a lovely evening.
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I hope we'll all acknowledge that many church groups do fantastic charitable work (as do many lay-groups). It's also worth noting that the NZ Council of Christian Social Services, the peak body for church service providers, is also a particularly effective lobby group and has been for a long time.
That's true. While I don't know that it's an ideal situation, church groups are an integral part of the delivery of social welfare. Presbyterian Social Services, for example, rival the much higher-profile Salvation Army in the scale of their operations. In some cases, such as the Baptist City Missions' submission on the effect of loan sharks on lower income groups around three years back, they've shown themselves to have a more proactive social conscience than the government of the day.
It's when they attempt to impose conditions beyond Christian charity, and extend their power under the guise of 'morality', that they overstep the mark. The threats and attempted bullying of politicians employed by Sydney's grotesquely reactionary Cardinal George Pell show that there are elements in the Catholic Church that still nurture a longing for an authoritarian past.
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But what Tess is advocating isn't that sort of "conscientious objection" - it's simple bigotry and hatred.
'Fraid so. And employing specious 'separate but different' arguments is creepily reminiscent of the justification for apartheid.