Well. The nerve of that man. He admitted he didn’t know and asked if what he’d heard was true. A right winger, I’m certain of it. someone must s\Shut. Him. Up. Speaking in public, nay QUESTIONING in public is evidence of right wing taint and must be suppressed.

The government will be unhappy with us. We will be unpopular. *gasp*

DId he get an answer, or did he just get banned having the temerity to question (in public)?

I guess we’re just supposed to keep all unapproved questions on the down low. LOL

What I can bear witness to were the actions of brave Catholic leaders who once stood for peace, social justice and economic equality. Those are gone now only to be replaced by fools such as the Bishop in this story. I find this situation to be disgusting.

Let’s imagine that this right-wing smear were true. One can make a good case for saying that under Islamic law insurance of this type is forbidden because it is a kind of gambling. Everybody knows that it’s a gamble. That’s why some people who could afford it don’t buy insurance. They take a gamble that they’re young and healthy enough not to need any expensive health care so the return on their stake would not be sufficient to make it a good bet. A solid principle of Islamic law is not to buy things that you cannot either quantify or actually see. What if I say I’ll sell you next year’s crop from my field for X, and next year’s crop turns out to be a complete failure? I might be prepared to take that gamble, and I’d probably try to get a lower price because of the uncertainty involved, hoping all the time that there’ll be a bumper crop and I’ll make a killing. Islamic law says such contracts of sale are invalid. If I say I’ve got a stack of old LPs in my house that I want to sell, Islamic law would say that the sale is not valid unless the buyer sees or can verify the size of the stack. That would be an interesting case for them to argue over. Some lawyers would probably say that such a contract of sale was invalid because the buyer had not sees the actual merchandise — the value of each disc would be different. If he’s taking a calculated risk on what he’s likely to find in that stack, then the contract would be invalid even if he had an idea of how many records there were. [You fascinate me. Tell me more.]

Sorry for the excess detail, but what would our bishops say about a supposed Muslim exception apart from laughing about it as they did? Or what should they say if they are going to be consistent about this religious liberty campaign? They should defend to the death an exemption for Muslims, because it is arguably a settled issue of religious law. Somehow I don’t see that happening.

Firstly, because they declare themselves “holy” doesn’t put them in a position above anyone else.

Secondly, dressing yourself up in ridiculous costumes and pretending to speak for some invisible wizard in the sky is exactly the opposite of good judgement and intelligence.

Wide eyed yes. Innocent, I wonder. If one observes carefully when such questions are asked or when very self evident ridiculous statements are made, the human face exhibits this wide eye feature. The other is the slight, slow turning of the head from left to right, repeatedly. Watch Mitt Romney; he absolutely cannot control it. John McCain is the same way.