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Dear david f,

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You certainly seem to have an interesting family.

Arden looks like a nice little town or village or whatever. I guess everybody knows everybody. That can have both advantages and disadvantages though it seems a rather selective community which gives it a broader perspective than most other little towns of that size.

Apart from the artists, writers and intellectuals, presumably a number of others must earn their living by commuting elsewhere.

With your daughter’s multiple community activities it doesn’t sound as though she would have much time to look after a household full of kids and a husband or partner but, then, she seems to have so many talents and loads of energy and enthusiasm...

I can understand that you are proud of her.

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Dear George,

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That is an interesting post to JP – interesting because there’s not much “fat” in there. I have the impression that you have made good use of your exceptional intelligence and slimmed your religious concepts down to the bone.

Perhaps the friction from all these "robust" exchanges on OLO has contributed in some way.

Given the form they’re in now, to my mind they are impeccable. If I had read that post a few years ago, I should have no trouble agreeing with you. I feel quite comfortable with the concept of god you describe.

But, to quote Samuel Beckett :

« Perhaps my best years are gone. When there was a chance of happiness. But I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn't want them back. »

(Krapp's Last Tape, 1958

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Dear Banjo,

Thanks for the compliment, however these are not new “religious concepts down to the bone” - they are centuries old, although my recent inspiration came from https://youtu.be/2BQSqHrU7ns.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/07/30/1407166/-Catholic-Nun-Explains-Pro-Life-In-A-Way-That-May-Stun-The-Masses?detail=email contains a story about a Catholic nun speaking about those who are against abortion.

A quote from Sister Joan Chittister, O.S.B:

"I do not believe that just because you're opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don't? Because you don't want any tax money to go there. That's not pro-life. That's pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is."

Sister Joan shares a sense of responsibility with my colleague in the Netherlands. Sells dismisses the concerns that can make a woman decide on abortion by claiming that most abortions are for convenience. Sister Joan has compassion for the woman and the child born to the woman.

Shame on you, Sells.

Sister Chittister is a well known figure on the (extreme) left wing of American Catholicism (although in this quote she more or less mimics Pope’s views as made explicit e.g. in his recent Laudatio Si encyclical). There is, of course, also the extreme right wing of vociferous “pro-lifers” and I think it is a good thing that such a wide rage of opinions is now available within the Church, although the official position is still determined by the Pope and Synods.

Error: Of course, wide range not "wide rage".

Dear George,

It is good that the Catholic Church accommodates a variety of views and does not enforce a stifling conformity. I have found much good in Laudato Si.

However, I think the pope has caricatured the views of those who are concerned with population. No species can increase in number indefinitely. In paragraph 50 the pope wrote:

“ Instead of resolving the problems of the poor and thinking of how the world can be different, some can only propose a reduction in the birth rate.”

I belong to Sustainable Population Australia. Concern with the birth rate does not mean that other problems of the poor are ignored as the pope implied nor that is it acceptable for wealthier people to have high birth rates. The carbon footprint of the average Australian is about 50 times that of the average Bangladeshi. Reduction in birth rate is only one of many approaches to limit environmental destruction and keep a liveable planet.

In paragraph 98 the pope rejected asceticism and withdrawal from the world.

Jesus lived in full harmony with creation, and others were amazed: “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?” (Mt 8:27). His appearance was not that of an ascetic set apart from the world, nor of an enemy to the pleasant things of life. Of himself he said: “The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard!’” (Mt 11:19). He was far removed from philosophies which despised the body, matter and the things of the world. Such unhealthy dualisms, nonetheless, left a mark on certain Christian thinkers in the course of history and disfigured the Gospel.

I appreciate the above very much. Denial of the good things of the world has been treated as a virtue. The Bible states, GEN 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. If God sees the world as good why should worshipers of that God deny it?