A great example of how to respect the person but not unconditionally respect the ideas because of a dog collar, for many people this will be uncomfortable to watch, but it's not watching that counts it's listening to the words and understanding the implications of what is being said. This man says that if he were "in power" he would criminalise abortion, yes that's right, if a woman was gang raped, fell pregnant and then felt compelled to have an abortion he would throw her into jail for that.
I wish more mainstream interviewers had the balls to challenge the ideas of so called "religious leaders" in this way.
3 comments:
Tell you what, Steve, I find exactly the opposite.
Every time I wear a dog collar I'm acutely aware that everyone around me is patronising me. And believe me, as a 16 stone skinhead with two degrees I'm not used to being patronised... I filled up the car with petrol at the local Sainsbury and somebody explained to me how to use the Pin Pad. I manage 8 web developers and I first programmed a computer in 1979. But wear a dog collar and you might as well pretend to be the vicar in Dad's Army.
Wearing a dog collar seems to declare "hello world - I'm really unworldly, don't drink, don't understand jokes and have no idea what pain feels like". And then a bunch of Irish priests (I can think of better words) make the situation unimaginably worse.
Frankly I'm amazed to think anyone would respect a dog collar. I'll lend you one if you want to try it...
cheers
Gary
G, you paint a wonderful picture!
I beat you to it!, my first programming experience was 1978, a Commodore Pet round my mates house (his dad was a computing lecturer); we were up the whole night.. good memories.
I suppose I'm thinking about this particular story as more about people pushing their preferred dogma into the public square rather than how individuals are perceived. Not that they are not entitled to do it of course (as we all should be) but that the ideas are automatically respected because of their origin.
I don't have any vicar friends (not because of any particular choice I hasten to add), closest I get is a mate who's was a theology student - I daren't patronise him, he'd probably glass me... (intellectually of course :)
What a great comedy courtesy of this yutz:
"I don't know how people of good conscience, especially people from a catholic background could take that position [for any form of abortion], in good conscience."
I guess he is not aware that nearly 30% of all abortions in the US are done on catholic women. The reporter probably is correct that the church seeks to enforce its laws on the behaviour of its own believers (for whom you would think the religious coercion was enough without the state having to additionally coerce them).
I haven't personally ever seen a clergy member publicly interviewed where they weren't granted extraordinary deference (until this), far beyond what anyone else would be granted when they were basically talking non-sense.
And lastly, religious people who argue that abortion is wrong on the basis that it is murder are simply stuck with the gang-rape pregnancy problem, because murder is murder. A lot of people who would otherwise agree that abortion is generally bad are forced to side against these people.
But of course if they agreed that abortion was not murder or otherwise allowable in the case of rape, they would basically be admitting that they want women who voluntarily have sex punished when they get pregnant, and as long as you didn't willingly engage in intercourse, they can make an exception. ::wink wink::
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