http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/pope-benedict/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/thanks-benedict-thats-about-as-clear-as-mud-pope-condoms/ For one of the world’s most powerful men Pope Benedict has a big problem with clear communication. Health experts around the world have rejoiced at a hint from the Pope that it kinda, sorta, maybe could be better for a male prostitute with AIDS to use a condom when having sex. The Vatican has been quick to clear up that it’s not official teaching so headlines such as “Vatican makes first concession on condom use”, in one paper this morning seem a little hasty. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/thanks-benedict-thats-about-as-clear-as-mud-pope-condoms/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/thanks-benedict-thats-about-as-clear-as-mud-pope-condoms/#item4525 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 I can see why the new atheist commentators Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins want to take on the Pope. Here is someone who fears what Gareth Evans called “relevance deprivation”. He fears it for himself as Pope, he fears it for the Church. To bolster the declining authority of the Church, he has set up the straw man of “aggressive secularism” and sets his adherents against it. Religion, the Pope told Britons in his trip this month, is being “marginalised”, relegated to the “purely private sphere”. Believers holding public roles are being asked to act against their conscience, he claims. Secularism, Britains were warned, no longer values or tolerates their traditional values such as honesty, respect and fair-mindedness. Your Holiness, this is rubbish – ideologically motivated rubbish. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/god-bless-the-secular-state/ I can see why the new atheist commentators Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins want to take on the Pope. Here is someone who fears what Gareth Evans called “relevance deprivation”. He fears it for himself as Pope, he fears it for the Church. To bolster the declining authority of the Church, he has set up the straw man of “aggressive secularism” and sets his adherents against it. Religion, the Pope told Britons in his trip this month, is being “marginalised”, relegated to the “purely private sphere”. Believers holding public roles are being asked to act against their conscience, he claims. Secularism, Britains were warned, no longer values or tolerates their traditional values such as honesty, respect and fair-mindedness. Your Holiness, this is rubbish – ideologically motivated rubbish. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/god-bless-the-secular-state/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/god-bless-the-secular-state/#item4086 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 I can see why the new atheist commentators Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins want to take on the Pope. Here is someone who fears what Gareth Evans called “relevance deprivation”. He fears it for himself as Pope, he fears it for the Church. To bolster the declining authority of the Church, he has set up the straw man of “aggressive secularism” and sets his adherents against it. Religion, the Pope told Britons in his trip this month, is being “marginalised”, relegated to the “purely private sphere”. Believers holding public roles are being asked to act against their conscience, he claims. Secularism, Britains were warned, no longer values or tolerates their traditional values such as honesty, respect and fair-mindedness. Your Holiness, this is rubbish – ideologically motivated rubbish. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-much-abuse-can-you-take-from-the-church/ At breakfast yesterday my two-year-old daughter wanted to “read” me the Easter card she got from a relative. “One day, they went in the forest, and then they were finished. The End,” she said, looking up from the card. “Now you read it to me.” So I did. The greeting was: Easter time is here again That lovely time of year When we especially think of those We hold especially dear So naturally you’re thought about And wished the nicest things – All the special happiness A joyful Easter brings! I’m enthusiastic about explaining things to her so I was about to drop a few sentences somehow explaining Easter was really about God, but a thought crossed my mind and stopped me. I have no tolerance left for the Church’s protection of child abusers, its silencing of victims and failure to adequately apologise or explain why it failed to act against paedophiles. Why, I asked myself, should my daughter be exposed to these men in frocks and their beliefs? For someone raised as a Catholic this is an arresting thought. Even though its dogma is world-renowned it may still be hard to grasp, for anyone not brought up with it, the all-or-nothing way Catholicism requires you to accept, without question, the authority of the Church. Put simply, if you don’t accept the Church you’re not Catholic. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-much-abuse-can-you-take-from-the-church/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-much-abuse-can-you-take-from-the-church/#item2744 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 I can see why the new atheist commentators Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins want to take on the Pope. Here is someone who fears what Gareth Evans called “relevance deprivation”. He fears it for himself as Pope, he fears it for the Church. To bolster the declining authority of the Church, he has set up the straw man of “aggressive secularism” and sets his adherents against it. Religion, the Pope told Britons in his trip this month, is being “marginalised”, relegated to the “purely private sphere”. Believers holding public roles are being asked to act against their conscience, he claims. Secularism, Britains were warned, no longer values or tolerates their traditional values such as honesty, respect and fair-mindedness. Your Holiness, this is rubbish – ideologically motivated rubbish. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pope-apology-wont-be-enough-for-change/ Ever tried to apologise to someone and been rebufffed? Pope Benedict experienced just that on the weekend when he made an apology to Irish people who were sexually abused by Catholic priests. His apology came in the wake of last November’s government report, The Murphy Report, which found the Irish clergy “obsessively” concealed child abuse by priests in Dublin from 1975 - 2004 and operated under a policy of ” don’t ask, don’t tell.” penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pope-apology-wont-be-enough-for-change/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pope-apology-wont-be-enough-for-change/#item2675 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 I can see why the new atheist commentators Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins want to take on the Pope. Here is someone who fears what Gareth Evans called “relevance deprivation”. He fears it for himself as Pope, he fears it for the Church. To bolster the declining authority of the Church, he has set up the straw man of “aggressive secularism” and sets his adherents against it. Religion, the Pope told Britons in his trip this month, is being “marginalised”, relegated to the “purely private sphere”. Believers holding public roles are being asked to act against their conscience, he claims. Secularism, Britains were warned, no longer values or tolerates their traditional values such as honesty, respect and fair-mindedness. Your Holiness, this is rubbish – ideologically motivated rubbish.