Comments on: when religion, ethics and morality part ways http://worldofweirdthings.com/2009/11/16/when-religion-ethics-and-morality-part-ways/ exploring science, technology, the strange and the unknown Fri, 10 Sep 2010 01:18:32 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: gfish http://worldofweirdthings.com/2009/11/16/when-religion-ethics-and-morality-part-ways/#comment-8338 gfish Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:30:48 +0000 http://worldofweirdthings.com/?p=8664#comment-8338 <i>"... or the politicians who think they can change those long-held beliefs with money as a wedge?"</i> The city council did not just single out the Catholic Church and told them to provide benefits for same sex partners working for them, threatening to pull funds if they did. No, they required all social service provides to adhere to the same anti-discriminatory laws to which the city itself is held in order to avoid potential lawsuits in the future. It's basically a CYA policy. As noted in the post, the Church has plenty of money in the form of tax free donations, and if they had such huge objections to the policy but still wanted to provide services for the poor, they would've found a way to do it. Maybe they wouldn't offer as much as they did before, but they would be offering something instead of threatening to shut down all services, using the poor as a hostage to force religious exemptions. Instead, the Church's record very clearly says that when it comes to taking care of the poor on their own, or getting public money to help the poor but with the stipulation that they don't deny same sex partners legal benefits, they would rather let the poor sleep in the street and search through scraps for the sake of staying high and mighty. “… or the politicians who think they can change those long-held beliefs with money as a wedge?”

The city council did not just single out the Catholic Church and told them to provide benefits for same sex partners working for them, threatening to pull funds if they did. No, they required all social service provides to adhere to the same anti-discriminatory laws to which the city itself is held in order to avoid potential lawsuits in the future. It’s basically a CYA policy.

As noted in the post, the Church has plenty of money in the form of tax free donations, and if they had such huge objections to the policy but still wanted to provide services for the poor, they would’ve found a way to do it. Maybe they wouldn’t offer as much as they did before, but they would be offering something instead of threatening to shut down all services, using the poor as a hostage to force religious exemptions.

Instead, the Church’s record very clearly says that when it comes to taking care of the poor on their own, or getting public money to help the poor but with the stipulation that they don’t deny same sex partners legal benefits, they would rather let the poor sleep in the street and search through scraps for the sake of staying high and mighty.

]]> By: Russ Toelke http://worldofweirdthings.com/2009/11/16/when-religion-ethics-and-morality-part-ways/#comment-8335 Russ Toelke Sun, 29 Nov 2009 17:41:19 +0000 http://worldofweirdthings.com/?p=8664#comment-8335 Who's the bad guy? The organization that refuses funds due to long-held beliefs, or the politicians who think they can change those long-held beliefs with money as a wedge? I don't disagree with the notion that benefits should extent to all legal partnership arrangements, but I do disagree with a city council that is trying to exclude the nation's second largest provider of services to the poor by thinking they can rewrite such organization's philosophy by changing their own rules. City council will not produce the social changes they want overnight. The Catholic Church is still the nation's #2 service provider to the poor, and marginalizing DC's poor this way will not change this. Only the slow social awakening of an entire nation will do this. Who’s the bad guy? The organization that refuses funds due to long-held beliefs, or the politicians who think they can change those long-held beliefs with money as a wedge?
I don’t disagree with the notion that benefits should extent to all legal partnership arrangements, but I do disagree with a city council that is trying to exclude the nation’s second largest provider of services to the poor by thinking they can rewrite such organization’s philosophy by changing their own rules.
City council will not produce the social changes they want overnight. The Catholic Church is still the nation’s #2 service provider to the poor, and marginalizing DC’s poor this way will not change this. Only the slow social awakening of an entire nation will do this.

]]> By: Pierce R. Butler http://worldofweirdthings.com/2009/11/16/when-religion-ethics-and-morality-part-ways/#comment-7992 Pierce R. Butler Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:00:25 +0000 http://worldofweirdthings.com/?p=8664#comment-7992 <i>... adoption programs of Catholic Charities in Massachusetts were shut down ...</i> Newsweek couldn't possibly have chosen to write this in the passive voice just to leave it unclear who shut down those adoption programs (hint: not the government of Massachusetts), could they? … adoption programs of Catholic Charities in Massachusetts were shut down …

Newsweek couldn’t possibly have chosen to write this in the passive voice just to leave it unclear who shut down those adoption programs (hint: not the government of Massachusetts), could they?

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