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Great news: LONDON (RNS) A Roman Catholic adoption agency has lost its fight for the right to continue its policy of refusing to place children with same-sex couples based on religious principles. The agency, Catholic Care, saw its battle to limit its adoption services to heterosexual-only parents collapse in a ruling Thursday (August 19) by [...]
Archive for the ‘Roman Catholic Church’ Category
Roman Catholic Adoption Agency In Britain Not Allowed To Refuse To Place Kids With Gays
August 22nd, 2010 
Daniel Fincke 
Posted in Christianity, Christianity, Homophobia, Homophobia, Homosexuality, Homosexuality, LGBTQAA, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Religion, Religion, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State 
Tags: Gay Adoption 
No Comments »Gay Sex And Reality
July 18th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Recently a University of Illinois adjunct professor in a course on Catholicism got into unfairly lost his job over expressing his philosophical opposition to homosexuality in an e-mail to his student in what seems to me like a pretty clear violation of academic freedom. As to the substance of his arguments though, PZ Myers does [...]
Posted in Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Christianity, Christianity, Ethics, Ethics, Homophobia, Homophobia, Homosexuality, Homosexuality, LGBTQAA, Morality, Morality, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, PZ Myers, PZ Myers, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Sex, Teleology, Teleology Tags: Natural Law Theory, University of Illinois, William Howell No Comments »Towards Atheistic Religions (Or Away From Them, Depending On How You Define “Religions”)
July 13th, 2010 Daniel Fincke In a rare occurrence, I am being taken to task for giving religion too much credit and atheists too little! Here are the offending paragraphs I wrote on Friday: I would say that various practices called religious, if stripped of all their dogmatism, traditionalism, literalism, and authoritarianism, can and do certainly coexist with and complement science [...]
Posted in Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Authority, Authority, Christianity, Christianity, Contemporary Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Ethics, Ethics, Featured, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, Religion, Religion and Science, Religious Moderates, Religious Moderates, Religious Secularism, Religious Secularism, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Secularism No Comments »Jesuit Priest Criticizes Church Demands For Lock Step Agreement
July 10th, 2010 Daniel Fincke James Martin, a Jesuit priest and Colbert Show regular turns to the Huffington Post to criticize the Roman Catholic Church’s top down approach to thinking and the culture of fear it engenders: Today in the Catholic Church almost any disagreement to almost any degree with almost any church leader on almost any topic is seen [...]
On God As The Source Of Being But Not Of Evil
July 9th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Introduction This post is a long one but an important one for understanding what sophisticated Roman Catholic philosophers have traditionally meant when they have said that “God is good” and that the existence of evil is not to be taken as counter-evidence to their belief in God’s goodness. Very often we atheists are dismissed as [...]
Posted in Arguments Against The Existence of God, Arguments Against The Existence of God, Arguments for the Existence of God, Arguments for the Existence of God, Atheism, Atheism, Christianity, Christianity, Ethics, Featured, God, God, Historical Philosophy, Historical Philosophy, Metaethics, Metaethics, Metaphysics, Metaphysics, Philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Benedict XVI, Problem of Evil, Problem of Evil, Religion, Religion, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Teleology, Teleology, Virtues, Virtues Tags: Thomas Aquinas 19 Comments »Do You Like Anti-Catholicism Mixed In With Your End Times Delusions?
July 8th, 2010 Daniel Fincke If so, the new Jack Chick tract on the end times will really hit the spot! (If you’ve ever just wondered what it would be like if Glenn Beck wrote a Jack Chick tract, this seems the closest approximation.) H/T: Secular Outpost. Your Thoughts?
A Dictatorship Of Relativism?
July 3rd, 2010 Daniel Fincke BBC Radio 4 analyzes the pope’s catchphrase, “a dictatorship of relativism”, used for describing the secular West. Here’s the program description: The idea that no one has a monopoly on the truth seems to be fixed in the modern Western psyche. But it’s an idea that is under attack. Pope Benedict claims that we are [...]
Posted in Authority, Authority, Contemporary Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Culture, Cutural Criticism, Cutural Criticism, Ethics, Ethics, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Islam, Islam, Metaethics, Metaethics, Morality, Morality, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Benedict XVI, Religion, Religion, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Secularism, Separation of Church and State, Separation of Church and State, World Affairs, World Affairs Tags: Ann Widdecombe, Europe, Leslie Green, Marcello Pera, Moral Aboslutism, Moral Relativism, Rowan Williams, Ruzwan Mohammed, Simon Blackburn, Stephen Wang, United Kingdom No Comments »Beyond Agnosticism: More Details About How I Know Various Kinds Of Gods Do Not Exist, Based On Scientific And Philosophical Reasons
June 30th, 2010 Daniel Fincke While I agree with, and vigorously defend, the notion that there is an important difference between lacking a belief in gods (as an agnostic atheist) and believing there are no gods (as a gnostic atheist), I also think that atheists should not, based on the best available scientific evidence and philosophical arguments, merely lack belief [...]
Posted in Arguments Against The Existence of God, Arguments Against The Existence of God, Arguments for the Existence of God, Arguments for the Existence of God, Atheism, Atheism, Christianity, Christianity, Epistemic Justification, Epistemic Justification, Epistemology, Epistemology, Evidence, Evidence, Evolution, Evolution, Featured, God, God, Intelligent Design, Intelligent Design, Metaphysics, Metaphysics, Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Mind, Problem of Evil, Problem of Evil, Religion, Religion, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Skepticism, Skepticism, Why I Am Not A Christian, Why I Am Not A Christian Tags: Agnosticism, Personal God 9 Comments »Daily Hilarity: Children’s Guide To Religion
June 29th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Thanks to Das for the hilarious find: “Sometimes I think God drinks my tears and pees them back on my life.” Your Thoughts?
Contortions Of Catholic Philosophy: Eve Tushnet Argues Gay Sex Is Not OK But Sex Changes Are
June 28th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Tushnet’s moral choice for herself and for other gays is celibacy or gender reassignment. Of course for some people, specifically some of the transgendered, a sex change is entirely appropriate and preferable to gay sex because from a gender(rather than a sex) perspective, those who are pre-op transgendered and are attracted to members of their [...]
Posted in Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Bio-Medical Ethics, Bio-Medical Ethics, Christianity, Christianity, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Ethics, Featured, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Homophobia, Homophobia, Homosexuality, Homosexuality, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Vices, LGBTQAA, Morality, Morality, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Psychology, Psychology, Religion, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Religious Moderates, Religious Moderates, Religious Secularism, Religious Secularism, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Secularism, Sex, Teleology, Teleology 3 Comments »On The “Compassion” In The Catholic Bishops’ Letter To Congress Against Gay Rights
June 21st, 2010 Daniel Fincke Recently, United States bishops petitioned Congress to not protect gays from being fired for their sexual orientation. Andrew Sullivan already precisely attacked the bishops’ immoral political calculation by which they explicitly committed themselves to a perverse moral contradiction whereby they simultaneously concede that homosexuality is to a significant extent not a choice and argue that [...]
Posted in Andrew Sullivan, Authoritarianism, Christianity, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Homophobia, Homosexuality, Law, Law & Politics, LGBTQAA, Politics, Religion, Religious Rights, Right Wing Politics, Roman Catholic Church, Same Sex Marriage Tags: ZJ Jones, ZJemptv No Comments »Daily Hilarity: A New Pope In A Galaxy Far, Far Away
June 21st, 2010 Daniel Fincke The absurdity of religious ceremonial pretensions are clarified a bit: Thanks to Heather for the link. Your Thoughts?
Daily Hilarity: Dave Allen On Religion
June 19th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Hilarious and insightful stuff: Thanks to Bruce for the link! Your Thoughts?
Posted in Christianity, Comedy, Hilarious, Roman Catholic Church, Videos Tags: Dave Allen, Stand Up Comedy, The Trinity No Comments »How And Why To Defect From The Catholic Church
June 13th, 2010 Daniel Fincke If the Catholic Church baptized you and you have neither personally defected nor been formally excommunicated, they still count you in their numbers when they quantify the scope of their influence by citing how many Catholics there are. If you do not want them considering you Catholic, here’s what you should do: Your Thoughts?
Posted in Atheism, Atheist Videos, Christianity, Religion, Roman Catholic Church Tags: Defection From Catholic Church, zinnia jones, zj, ZJemptv No Comments »A Roman Catholic Church “Fixer” Speaks Out
June 7th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Ex-Benedictine monk, Patrick Wall (Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes: The Catholic Church’s 2,000 Year Paper Trail of Sexual Abuse), recently provided a revealing, disturbing, angering, and heartbreaking 12 minute radio interview describing his role in helping to make clerical abuse scandals go away. Here are some of the things he said: I was a company [...]
U.S. Bishops Argue Employers Should Be Allowed To Consider Being Gay A Fireable Offense
June 3rd, 2010 Daniel Fincke The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote a letter addressed to the United States Congress people opposing ENDA, the Employment Nondiscrimination Act For the sake of clarity, permit us first to state two basic tenets of Catholic Church teaching on this issue. First, persons with a homosexual inclination “must be accepted with respect, compassion, [...]
Posted in Andrew Sullivan, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Homophobia, Homosexuality, Law, Law & Politics, LGBTQAA, Pope Benedict XVI, Religion, Religious Secularism, Right Wing Politics, Roman Catholic Church, Same Sex Marriage, Separation of Church and State Tags: Anti-discrimination Laws, Discrimination, Employment Nondiscrimination Act, enda, H.R. 3017, Senate (S. 1584), United States Bishops No Comments »The Roman Catholic Lady Gaga On Religion And The Church
June 3rd, 2010 Daniel Fincke Intuitively it makes a lot of sense to me that Lady Gaga embraces Roman Catholicism: She’s Italian. She has a lavish, theatrical aesthetic inevitably inherited in part from the most tangible, sensuous, and theatric form of Western Christianity. She’s a self-conscious transgressor who needs, to some extent, to think in terms of traditional binary logics and [...]
Posted in Christianity, Featured, Pop Culture, Religion, Roman Catholic Church, Secularism Tags: CNN, Lady Gaga, Lady Gaga's Roman Catholicism, Larry King No Comments »More On Sister Margaret McBride, The Nun Who Approved A Life-Saving Abortion
June 1st, 2010 Daniel Fincke This is mostly previously reported information, but it does include an appearance by Canon lawyer Kevin O’Rourke, a priest who both sides with Sister McBride and admits that the Church’s policy of automatically excommunicating anyone who permits an abortion but not automatically excommunicating pedophile priests “doesn’t look good”: My views on the ethical issues raised [...]
The Dalai Lama Or The Pope?
May 28th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Can you tell which quote comes from which religious leader? Thanks to Butterflies and Wheels and Jessica Your Thoughts?
52% Of Americans Now Judge Gay Relationships Morally Acceptable
May 25th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Not that moral correctness requires popular approval, but moral admirableness of the populace does require morally correct opinions, and so this is a heartening development which sees America finally starting to get it right, with its first ever clear majority (52%) judging gay relationships “morally acceptable”: Andrew Sullivan analyzes the data: A large part of [...]
Posted in Applied Ethics, Ethics, Homosexuality, Law, Law & Politics, LGBTQAA, Morality, Philosophical Ethics, Pope Benedict XVI, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Moderates, Roman Catholic Church Tags: American views on gay relationships, Ethics of Homosexuality, Morality of Homosexuality No Comments »Should Religions Be Exempt From Laws Otherwise Applicable To Others?
May 25th, 2010 Daniel Fincke ProfMTH explores the issue with a wealth of information, siding against such exemptions: The second video is chock full of legal information. The most interesting bit in here is where he discusses Antonin Scalia’s strong case against religious exemptions and Sonia Sotomayor’s general support for them. 1. Regarding Christian Legal Society v. Martinez– –the decision [...]
Posted in Abortion, Applied Ethics, Atheist Videos, Bio-Medical Ethics, Christianity, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Free Speech, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Homosexuality, Law, Law & Politics, LGBTQAA, News Discussion, Political Secularism, Racism, Religion, Religious Rights, Roman Catholic Church, Same Sex Marriage, Secularism, Separation of Church and State Tags: "The Ministerial Exception", Anti-discrimination Laws, Antonin Scalia, Archbishop Donald Wuerl, Archdiocese of Washington DC, Automatic Charitable Deductions, Bob Jones University, Bob Jones University v. United States, Boy Scouts, Catholic Charities, Catholic Charities of Sacramento v. Superior Court, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Albany v. Serio, Christian Legal Society, Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, Connecticut, Contraception, DC Same Sex Marriage Law, Employment Division v. Smith, Establihsment Clause of 1st Amendment, Federal 9th Circuit, Free Exercise Clause of 1st Amendment, Jonathan Turley, LAPD, Los Angelas Police Department, Mandated Benefits Laws, McClure v. The Salvation Army, Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, Palmore v. Sidoti, ProfMTH, Sonia Sotomayor, Special Rights, Supreme Court of the United States of America, Tax Exemptions for Churches, The New York Times, The Supreme Court, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, University of California Hastings College of Law, Wisconsin Supreme Court No Comments »Are Noble Lies “Blasphemous”?
May 23rd, 2010 Daniel Fincke Renegade Roman Catholic Andrew Sullivan is harsh with his condemnation of those who think we should “insincerely support religious faith because it is good for others or for society is”, calling this a “profound blasphemy” and cynical, and saying he respects us atheists and agnostics who outright reject faith more than both those noble lie [...]
Women’s Ordination: Another Route To Automatic Excommunication
May 21st, 2010 Daniel Fincke Not only does approving an abortion necessary to save a woman’s life in a case where her fetus would die in either case get you automatically excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church, but so does seeking ordination while being female. Lifelong Catholic Janine Denomme this week was denied a Roman Catholic burial for having the [...]
Moral Actions, Moral Sentiments, Moral Motives, and Moral Justifications: More On The Nun Excommunicated For Approving A Life-Saving Abortion
May 18th, 2010 Daniel Fincke In reply to my post on the story of Sister Margaret McBride whom the Catholic Church “automatically excommunicated” for helping to give the go-ahead to an abortion claimed necessary for saving the life of an 11 week pregnant mother, I have already received two interesting replies. The first challenged the medical argument for the necessity of [...]
Posted in Abortion, Applied Ethics, Authority, Autonomy, Bio-Medical Ethics, Christianity, Contemporary Ethics, Duty, Ethics, Featured, Feminism, Metaethics, Moral Psychology, Morality, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Religion, Roman Catholic Church, Secularism, Teleology, Virtues, Women's Issues Tags: Action Theory, Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, Consequentialism, Doctrine of Double Effect, Excommunication, John Garvie, Moral Judgment, Moral Justification, Moral Motivation, Moral Sentiments, Phoenix Archdiocese, Sister Margaret McBride, Vice, Vicious Motives, Vicious Sentiments, Virtue Ethics 5 Comments »Legalism Over Life: Nun Supports Life-Saving Abortion And Gets Excommunicated
May 18th, 2010 Daniel Fincke Feministing: Sister Margaret McBride has been demoted from her position at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, AZ after participating in the approval of an abortion for a critically ill patient in 2009. McBride was part of the hospital ethics committee that approved an abortion for a patient with pulmonary hypertension, which can be [...]
Posted in Abortion, Applied Ethics, Bio-Medical Ethics, Duty, Ethics, Featured, News, News Discussion, Philosophy, Religion, Roman Catholic Church, Women's Rights Tags: Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, Consequentialism, Doctrine of Double Effect, Excommunication, Feministing, John Garvie, Phoenix Archdiocese, Sister Margaret McBride 12 Comments »
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