Asking the Catholic church to stick to its ideals meets no definition of hypocrisy, George, even when it comes from a secular organisation.

At the moment the Vatican is having a bet both ways by only living up to its supposedly infallible and divine principles when it makes for good marketing.

If it stopped being so hypocritical and evasive we'd see just how popular the RCC's philosophy really is, and that's a desirable goal for anyone who cares about truth and honesty.

All this aside Max, what do you think of the tax payer funded practice of doctors killing little babies in their mothers wombs? That seems to be the real question you should be addressing ..not worrying what about what the Catholic Church is up to. The elephant in the room Max! You do a disservice to people of other faiths and non, to imply the Catholic Church is somehow the last word on abortion. 500 years before Christ the pagan philosopher Hippocrates had some thing to say about the practice. The Natural Law Max , written on the hearts of all men , the ability of discerning good from evil. Don't tell me anyone, in their heart of hearts, could fail to discern the killing of an innocent, defenceless baby in its mothers womb, comes into the category of evil.

Like many atheists Max Wallace seems very muddled in his thinking.

The Vatican does not, as he says, work through the US Catholic Bishops’ Conference. Maybe the article should have been titled, “US Bishops’ Conference not serious about abortion”.

Denny >"Don't tell me anyone, in their heart of hearts, could fail to discern the killing of an innocent, defenceless baby in its mothers womb, comes into the category of evil."

And yet Denny, abortion is legal in this country, so I guess the majority of Australians do support the right of women to choose what happens to their body. No one, least of all any unrelated males, has the right to change that.

Sancho,
Exactly, you can ask the Catholic Church to stick to its MORAL ideals (e.g. as expressed in various papal encyclicals) but to ask it to DICTATE to politicians knowledgeable of local situations how to apply these moral norms in practice is like asking it to dictate to scientists how to do their job. The Church can only ask Christian scientists not to interpret (this has nothing to do with the actual findings of science but with the world-view of the scientist) scientific findings in a way that goes against the metaphysical presuppositions of the Catholic, Christian, theistic world-view.

The difference between moral norms and political practice is something like the difference between world-views and findings of science, or for that matter as between mathematics and its application in practice. As a mathematician I could criticise an engineer when he/she makes a mathematical mistake, but I could not dictate to him/her what kind of mathematics to use to solve his/her particular problem (that I would probably not understand anyhow).

In another thread (http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=9292&page=0) I have been involved in discussing statements that could be seen by some oversensitive people as insulting. You provide a good example of that in your second paragraph.

You're dissembling, George.

Does the Catholic church represent god or not? Is abortion wrong or not? You can't appeal to pragmatism when claiming to represent the creator of the universe.

The article reminds us that a child's parents and doctor were excommunicated for allowing an abortion, so why are politicians and scientists not excommunicated for failing to oppose research or legislation which allows it? How can we take an organisation seriously when it claims to represent the almighty, then allows its members to contradict His wishes whenever it might be politically convenient?

The Church as no qualms whatever about dictating to millions of poor people that they should be burdened with HIV and overpopulation, so why is it so soflty-softly when Catholic politicians fail to stand against abortion and euthanasia legislation?

You're just reinforcing the author's point: Catholics only exercise their ideals when it's politically profitable.

The RCC's claim to authority relies solely upon its claim to represent god, yet it never punishes adherents who act against doctrine unless they're completely defenceless and powerless.

That's hypocrisy, plain and simple.