New Spins on Old Posts

I’ll have a longer post up tomorrow with reflection on my experience over Easter, but, in the meantime, I wanted to share some essays that supplement/compliment/shed new light on some of the discussions we’ve been having here.

If you’ve been getting into the fight about doctrine on the NFP/Transhumanism post…
…you need to check out Simcha Fisher’s “Why Doesn’t the Church Just Make a List?”

Plenty of commenters, including me, have been linking to this article, which does a really good job of explaining how the Catholic Church can set forward moral guidelines that produce extremely divergent recommendations in different cases.  To debunk the system, it’s not enough to point out it suggests different choices for different people.

If you thought the ROFL cross on campus was just something to laugh off…
…maybe a recent post on Pharyngula will give you pause.

Myers might be hosted soon by a blogging group that would require him to moderate curse words in comments.  When he asked his commenters if this would be acceptable, many of them replied that they would not be able to really express themselves if they couldn’t swear.  I’m skeptical of that claim in the same way I’m dubious about activists who need to use public acts of blasphemy.  You will always repulse a lot of people with this tactic.  It’s true that stunts attract attention, but they have to be paired with substantive critiques or you’re just drawing attention to your own crudity.

If you agree that the idea that I could satisfy Catholicism by keeping halachic law sounds absurd…
…then you’ll be glad to see that Jimmy Atkin at the National Catholic Register agrees (and he thinks the Pope does, too).

Atkin gives a clear overview of different Catholic teachings on the need to evangelize Jews and the way their covenant fits into a Catholic soteriology.  I don’t have the background to check that his position does jibe with  Catholic doctrine, but it is certainly less silly-on-the-face-of-it than the last thing I was last told on this topic.

And finally, if you wish the series of posts on ex-gay speaker Christopher Yuan was still going…

…another post by Simcha Fisher on sin is instructive for any Christian who wants to comment on the topic of homosexuality.

Simcha is writing about alcohol abuse, but her message carries over to a lot of topics.  She takes Christians to task for labeling whichever sins they don’t commit as uniquely terrible/disgusting.  You seldom hear Christians talk about contraception/pre-marital sex/non-vaginal sex with the same kind of revulsion and disdain as the kind they heap on homosexual relationships.  It undercuts the idea that their objections are part of a broader sexual ethics instead of simple dislike.