Why do you assume the nun is a theocrat? Religion is still fairly strong in peaceful secular states and hasn't dragged them into hellholes. That some religious fundamentalists hold odious beliefs doesn't mean that the nun who wrote the letter does. For all you know she's some kind of liberation theology type who doesn't subscribe to anything you've generalized about.

Religions are very complex things, simplistic black-and-white thinking and generalizing about them doesn't really help anything at all, nor does it promote anything beneficial to humanity, it just empowers fundamentalists by supporting their ignorant simplistic black-and-white thinking about religion and science.

>Why do you assume the nun is a theocrat?

Please show me evidence that a plurality of catholic nuns want legalized abortion. Otherwise I will continue to assume they don't that via basic common sense, current catholic theology, experience, and history.

You know the guy who invented the birth control pill was a devout Catholic?

Catholic nuns in particular, BTW, are somewhat infamous for butting heads with power structures both in and outside the Church, from a progressive standpoint--birth control, sex work, women's rights, and GLBT rights are a handful of issues that have been known to come up. It seems to come from working directly with the affected people on the ground.

And of course many nuns do the same thing and remain staunchly conservative. People are people.

But if you think that you can accurately pigeonhole anyone with different beliefs than yours into a narrow little box, you're no better than the bogeyman you're fighting.

> You know the guy who invented the birth control pill was a devout Catholic?

Your point is irrelevant to the discussion but I'm curious. Do you have a source for this? Greg Pincus' Wikipedia entry says absolutely nothing about his religious affiliation.

> Your point is irrelevant to the discussion

Right. If it was relevant, it might call your closely-held stereotypes into question. That seems ironic.

Also: John Rock, co-inventor of the Pill, along with Pincus and Chang. Interesting, and unfortunately Quixotic, character. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rock_(American_scientist) My apologies, I should have said "co-inventor."

Do you think pro-life atheists like Nat Hentoff are theocrats?

Opposition to abortion, while virtually always misguided, isn't theocracy.

History is replete with terror acts perpetrated by the Catholic Church (the Inquisition, the Crusades, ...).

Ok. Where is the Catholic terrorism these days? I can't remember the last time I heard a homily at Mass preaching violence. It's been awhile.

It happens on a regular basis around abortion clinics (the latest victim was Dr Tiller just a few years ago).

I am tempted to say that the horrors that Mother Teresa inflicted in her clinics would also qualify as terrorism, but that's probably more open to interpretation (well, the horrors are not open to interpretation, whether it should be called terrorism can arguably be).

Have you never heard of the IRA or Basque separatists? These days most terrorists in the US & EU are protestants, but the Catholics have not given up their attempt to wrest first place from these upstart prods...

Ahh the IRA example again. Virtually all experts categorize that conflict as an ethno-nationalist one, not a religious one.

Can you point to any teachings or statements by the Catholic Church today that condone terrorism and violence?

Well, the Christian god routinely murders entire populations (an entire planet, even) including children, newborns and cattle.

Not exactly a stand up example of moral behavior, it's no wonder some of its followers feel entitled to do the same.

The Catholic Church does not endorse murdering entire populations, including children, newborns and cattle. In fact, it is in no uncertain terms completely opposed to such things.

I asked you about the Catholic Church and you tell me about the Bible. You are free to argue that the Catholic Church is hypocritical and misinterpreting the Bible when they condemn murder, but that wasn't the question.

Certainly you're not familiar with Northern Ireland. Assuming we're limiting to Xtianity, which I sure am not.

"Certainly you're not familiar with Northern Ireland."

Someone clearly is unfamiliar, though I think you should by pointing to yourself rather than others.