Ireland Voters Back Gay Marriage

[c.d.]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ireland-voters-back-gay-marriage-in-social-revolution/ar-BBk7b80?ocid=DELLDHP

c.d.

[GUT]

I thought the Catholic vote would have tipped it the other way.

[Beowulf]

I thought the Catholic vote would have tipped it the other way.

That's the problem...tipping the other way.

[Robert]

Apparently the priests aren't as influential as they used to be, owing to various scandals.

Perhaps if the Pope threatened mass excommunication.......but that is a very high-risk nuclear option.

[kensei]

Apparently the priests aren't as influential as they used to be, owing to various scandals.

Perhaps if the Pope threatened mass excommunication.......but that is a very high-risk nuclear option.

Was it not a secret ballot? Excommunication could never single out the guilty unless you're suggesting mass excommunication of the whole of Ireland including those who voted against.

It reminds me though that I've heard that up to 80% of married Catholics use birth control even though their faith teaches that it's a sin and they just never talk about it.

[Robert]

Hi Kensei

Yes, I was wondering if putting the entire country under excommunication - as happened to the England of King John - would make a difference, but that kind of thing doesn't happen now, as far as I am aware. Indeed I think the Pope might end up wishing that he hadn't done it, even if he were foolish enough to try.

[Ginger]

The current Pope strikes me as anything but a fool.

[Barnaby]

I saw a stat on CNN the other day stating that in the 1980s, 84% of the population in Ireland attended church weekly. Today it is 19%. Staggering cultural changes. I wonder what caused this? I wonder if crime is down?

[John Wheat]

Apparently the priests aren't as influential as they used to be, owing to various scandals.

You mean apparently the priests aren't as influential because of organised child sex abuse.

[Robert]

Yes, that, whether organized or unorganized, but also there have been one or two disturbing revelations about unmarried mothers and homes run by nuns.