Compare and Contrast


I haven't had the patience to do this yet, but if anyone is up to it, read Catholic Charities of Sacramento v. Superior Court and Silo v. Catholic Health West (registration required), and try to reconcile how the California Supreme Court can say that Catholic Health West is an exempt religious institution but Catholic Charities isn't.

Many Blacks Not on the "Gay Marriage" Bus

Including, it seems, Mr. Shakedown himself, Jesse Jackson.

"We find the gay community's attempt to tie their pursuit of special rights based on their behavior to the civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s abhorrent," Bishop Andrew Merritt of Straight Gate Ministries and several other Detroit pastors said recently in a statement supporting traditional marriage. "Being black is not a lifestyle choice."

Ahnold Not Against Gurly-Mon "Marriages"

I say we recall him and replace him with Mel.

Throughout his public life, Schwarzenegger's views on gays and lesbians usually have been more libertarian than conservative. He once told an interviewer, "When it comes to sex, I don't care what your (thing) is" and compared discrimination against gays to discrimination against bodybuilders.

Primary Day

If you're a California registered voter, don't forget to go out and vote today. As a Republican, I'll be voting for Howard Kaloogian to run against the evil U.S. Senator from Marin County Barbara Boxer. Except for Prop. 58, vote "no" on everything.

Pot Calling Kettle Black

Chappaquiddick Boy expresses his belief that Bush may have acted unconstitutionally in his recess appointment of Bill Pryor. This coming from a guy who has conspired to unconstitutionally require 60 votes to confirm a judicial appointment.

At issue is whether the 10-day period when Congress was away constituted a “recess” in which such appointments are provided for in the Constitution.

Some constitutional scholars believe that the Founding Fathers may have been referring to the far lengthier recess periods that occur between sessions and Congresses. Recesses lasting many months were common in the early days of the Republic, before the advent of mid-session breaks.

Cali Supremes Slam Catholic Charities

The state high court rules that religious affiliated non-profit groups must include contraception with employee health benefits.

The 6-1 decision by the California Supreme Court, the highest such ruling to date nationwide, could reach far beyond the 183 full-time charity employees. It also could affect thousands of workers at Catholic hospitals and other church-backed institutes throughout the state.

The high court said Catholic Charities is no different than other businesses in California, which is one of 20 states that require company-provided health plans to include contraception coverage. In California, "religious employers" such as churches are exempt from the requirement.

As I see it, there are good and bad things to this decision. The good part is that in order to fall under the religious exemption, it might force Church affiliated organizations to be more observant of Catholic teachings. (It's my understanding, for instance, that there are many Catholic Charities in the state that make contraception available to the general public and are resistent to criticizing sexually immoral behavior). The bad part, of course, is that religious affiliated charities must not only compromise their stated beliefs in order to do business in the state, the effect pf the Court's decision will probably deter new charitable organizations from even forming.

Christ Crucified: A Stumbling Block for Jews and an Absurdity to Gentiles

Such appears to be the common reasons for most of the negative media reviews on The Passion.

How one sees the movie the Passion, depends on whether one has the light of faith or not. Someone of one mind and heart would see something as white, and someone of another mind and heart would see the same thing as black. Take the Catholic Church as example. Many people see it as the most despicable thing on earth. For the heart in the state of God's favor, on the other hand, the Catholic Church is the most beautiful thing on earth.

Pope Can't Say Christianity is a Superior Religion

So says an Italian Muslim activist who has filed a civil lawsuit against the Holy Father.

In his latest legal bid, Smith said comments by Pope John Paul II and other church officials over the years have violated the Italian constitution, which proclaims all religions are equal under the law. Italy is officially secular, but largely Roman Catholic.

In the lawsuit, Smith cited a passage of John Paul's 1994 book Crossing the Threshold of Hope in which the pope writes that the "richness of God's self-revelation" in the Bible's Old and New Testament's has been "set aside" in Islam.

The suit also cites comments by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Vatican's orthodoxy watchdog, who in a 2000 document said the faithful of other religions were in a "gravely deficient situation" concerning their salvation, compared to Catholics.

And he cited comments by the retired archbishop of Bologna, Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, who in 2000 urged Italy to favour Catholic immigrants over Muslims to "save the nation's identity" against "Islam's ideological attack."

"All of this constitutes offence, injury and insult for all those who peacefully practice the Islamic religion, in addition to defamation and incitation to racial and religious hatred," according to a copy of the lawsuit Smith sent to news organisations.

Hey, if our courts can seriously consider some crank's objection to including the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, the odds that the Italian courts will entertain this goofball's lawsuit have to be pretty good.

Almost Like Trying to Find a Needle in a Haystack

If you thought it was difficult to accurately quantify how many Catholic priests had committed acts of child sexual abuse, it's probably near impossible to find out how many Protestant clergy have committed such crimes.

Protestant numbers are tougher to get because cases are scattered among hundreds of denominations. Moreover, many Protestant cases aren't reported to headquarters and many local congregations are self-governing, accountable to no outside supervisors.

Besides that, abuse cases get media notice only if lawsuits are filed and James F. Cobble Jr., whose Christian Ministry Resources advises churches on legal and tax issues, says many Protestant cases never reach court.

Among the reasons: Catholic dioceses with group insurance coverage and deep pockets make inviting targets, while the typical Protestant congregation has 150 members or less, limited money and no insurance coverage for misconduct. Also, Protestants predominate in rural and small towns, where victims and lawyers prefer to settle quietly out of court.

All this "lowers the known number of Protestants dramatically" and obscures the extent of the problem, Cobble says.

John F'n Kerry Possesses the Logic of a Tree Stump

In his most explicit remarks on the subject yet, Kerry told the Globe that he would support a proposed amendment to the state Constitution that would prohibit gay marrriage so long as, while outlawing gay marriage, it also ensured that same-sex couples have access to all legal rights that married couples receive.

Because I'm Cheap and I Hate Crowds

Such are the reasons why I won't be seeing The Passion for at least another week and during the day when matinee prices are in effect. As a matter of curiosity, however, I have been looking at what some of our more conservative Evangelical/Fundamentalist brethren have been saying about the film. Although most seem to have liked it, many of the comments are peppered with maddeningly ignorant and untrue remarks. Loads of it can be found in this screed that provides five "reasons" for Evangelicals and Fundamentlaists to avoid seeing The Passion (e.g., Ash Wednesday is a Catholic holy day, Mel Gibson is a devout Roman Catholic who relied on Catholic scholars for the movie, the film was endorsed by JPII, etc.). Very sad stuff, but what's even sadder is that U.S. bishops are seemingly indifferent to the opportunity that this film presents in terms of mass religious instruction and evangelization. Then again, with people like Bishop McGrath and Cardinal Mahony, maybe this isn't such a bad thing.

Tolerance Does Not Apply to Christianity

Despite allowing displays by the Chess Club, Hispanic Club, and Sexual Deviancy Club, a high school in Portland denies the display of a Bible by the Bible Club.

On a related note, I heard liberal pundit Lawrence O'Donnell comment on MSNBC yesterday that he has never seen any evidence of anti-Christian bias in our culture or the media, and that he has no idea why groups like the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights continuously make such claims.

Talk about someone with his head up his a**.

Recall Fever, Baby

This time, Attorney General Bill Lockyer.

Too Violent

That's what movie critics from the San Francisco Chronicle to the New York Times are basically saying about The Passion of the Christ. I wonder if they'd be saying this if the movie had been directed and produced by Steven Spielberg, who of course gave us the Oscar(tm) winning and critically acclaimed Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan (both of which have been shown on commercial television without editing).

State Money and Religious Studies

The SCOTUS rules that states can withhold scholarships from students who choose to study theology.

"Training someone to lead a congregation is an essentially religious endeavor," Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote for the majority. "Indeed, majoring in devotional theology is akin to a religious calling as well as an academic pursuit."

Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented.

AP reports the Bush administration had argued the state was wrong to yank the scholarship from former student Joshua Davey. Davey initially won a state Promise Scholarship, but the award was rescinded when the state found out he would be studying theology.

Update: The majority and dissenting opinions can be read here.

Sounds About Right

YOU ARE RULE 8(a)!

You are Rule 8, the most laid back of all the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. While your forefather in the Federal Rules may have been a stickler for details and particularity, you have clearly rebelled by being pleasant and easy-going. Rule 8 only requires that a plaintiff provide a short and plain statement of a claim on which a court can grant relief. While there is much to be lauded in your approach, your good nature sometimes gets you in trouble, and you often have to rely on your good friend, Rule 56, to bail you out.


Which Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Are You?
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Spreading Like a Hostile Viral Disease

A "gay" couple in Florida is set to challenge that state's non-recognition of same-sex "marriages" and civil unions.

Religious Groups Fear Potential Loss of Tax Exempt Status

A few years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that the IRS could constitutionally strip Bob Jones University of its tax exempt status because of the fundamentalist Christian school's practice of racial discrimination. Some religious groups think the same thing might eventually happen to them if government non-recognition of same sex "marriages" is constitutionally struck down.

"The issue of legalizing same-sex marriages in Massachusetts and California raises the question: Does this mean there will be cases brought against the Catholic Church for discrimination? I think it is the next step," said Flynn, who heads Your Catholic Voice, an activist group. "I don't think people will stop until the whole sacred institution of marriage crumbles."

Any threat to religious marriage between a man and a woman remains hypothetical today. But even homosexuals have acknowledged that the developments in Massachusetts and San Francisco arose quicker than they anticipated.

(...)

While supporters of traditional marriage fear erosion at the religious level, Eugene Volokh, a University of California at Los Angeles law professor, said those fears might be exaggerated.

He said churches could raise a "significant constitutional defense" to keeping their tax-exempt status. He noted, for instance, the Catholic Church has faced criticism for years because it doesn't ordain women as priests.

"Churches, quite clearly, have the right to marry or not marry whoever they please," Volokh said. "Maybe somebody could sue them for discrimination in marriage, but the churches will certainly win."

Why is This Man a Bishop?

Bishop McGrath of San Jose, CA on The Passion movie (link via Amy Welborn):

While the primary source material of the film is attributed to the four gospels, these sacred books are not historical accounts of the historical events that they narrate. They are theological reflections upon the events that form the core of Christian faith and belief.

They are not historical accounts of the historical events? Huh? Isn't that kind of like saying water isn't wet?

As we enter the season of Lent next Wednesday, Catholics and Christians are called to repentance. I call upon Catholics and all Christians in this Valley to renew the ties that bind us to our Jewish brothers and sisters, the first of God's Chosen People.

Catholics and Christians? Try inserting the word "other" after "and" Bishop. We are Christian too, you know.

If you bother to read the rest of the commentary, you'll discover it's just one big sappy preemptory apology on behalf of any Catholic (or other Christian) who is actually stupid enough to misuse the movie as a vehicle for attacking Jews. Makes you almost wonder if Bishop McGrath is sorry he's Catholic.

Another Friedman Hit Piece

I'm starting to get the idea that Roger Friedman just doesn't like Mel very much. As you read the article, bear in mind that Friedman previously told an untruth about where Gibson wanted The Passion to be shown.