Showing posts with label Tony Blair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tony Blair. Show all posts

Friday, March 25, 2022

Notes: Tuesday, March 2, 2021-Friday, March 25, 2022

 1. Suarez on political authority before and after the Fall

See the "Scholia" item "What Kind of Corporeal or Political Life Men Would Have Professed in the State of Innocence" (the translated title of Ch. 7 of Book 5 of On the Work of the Six Days), by Francisco Suarez, translated and introduced by Assistant Prof. Matthew T. Gaetano, Journal of Markets & Morality, Vol. 15, No. 2 (Fall 2012), pp. 527–563:


Labels: Adam (Patriarch), morals, politics

2. Prof. Sommerville's comparison of Catholic and Anglican political theory in the Jacobean age

See the article "FROM SUAREZ TO FILMER: A REAPPRAISAL", by J. P. Sommerville, The Historical Journal, Vol. 25, No. 3 (September 1982), pp. 525-540:



Labels: morals, politics, regalism, St. Robert Bellarmine

3. "The Declaration of Independence: Annotated"

That quotation is the title of an article of December 9, 2021 by Liz Tracey in the JSTOR Daily "Annotations" series:


Labels: Americanism, Democratism, history, liberalism, morals, politics, U.S.A.

4. Recent additions to, and losses from, The Order of the Garter

My last blog post about The Most Noble Order of the Garter was "Notes: Tuesday, February 5-Monday, July 22, 2019 (part 1 of 3)" (item 3):


Since then, that Order has lost no Ladies, no Stranger Knights, one British Royal Knight (namely, The (1.) Duke of Edinburgh, who died on April 9, 2021 and whose Funeral occurred on the 17. following), and five other Knights:

1. Lord Bramall, who died on November 12, 2019

2. Lord Ashburton, who died on October 6, 2020, the Memorial Service for whom occurred on October 15, 2021, and whose Garter Insignia were delivered up on December 1, 2021

3. Sir Antony Acland, who died on September 8, 2021, according to "Sir Antony Acland Obituary", dated September 16, 2021, available at Eton College's website:


and the Service of Thanksgiving for the Life of whom occurred on February 4, 2022

4. Sir Timothy Colman, who died the day after Sir Antony, according to "Sir Timothy Colman, record-breaking sailor, naturalist, long-serving lord lieutenant and well-liked figure in Norfolk life – obituary", dated September 15, 2021, available at the London Daily Telegraph's website:


and the Service of Thanksgiving to Celebrate the Life of whom occurred on January 20, 2022

5. Lord Sainsbury, who died on January 14, 2022, according to "Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover obituary", by Stephen Bates, dated Monday, January 17, 2022, available at The Guardian's website:


Over the same period, no new British Royal Knights, no new Stranger Knights nor Ladies, one de-facto British Royal Lady (namely, the de-facto Duchess of Cornwall), one other Lady (Lady Amos), and one other Knight (Sir Tony Blair) have joined the Order, with those three new appointments effective January 1, 2022. See

1. The Press Release "New appointments to the Order of the Garter announced", dated December 31, 2021, available at the official website of the British Royal Family:


It lists the three new appointees in the sequence in which I happen to have listed them, and says that Lady Amos
(born 13th March 1954) has previously been Chief Executive, Equal Opportunities Commission (1989-1994), Secretary of State for International Development, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Lords (2003-2007), Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Co-ordinator, UN (2010-2015) and is currently Master, University College Oxford.
while Sir Tony
was Prime Minister from 1997-2007. He is now Executive Chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, a not-for-profit organisation which works around the world.
2. Notice No. 3963431, January 7, 2022 (but to be dated the previous 1.), Notice Type "State", Sub-Type "Honours and Awards" (Notice Code: 1105), The London Gazette, Issue No. 63581, (printed on January 10, 2022, containing all notices published online between January 7 and 9, 2022), p. 214:


(delete "/page/214" for the full issue, with p. 214 being p. 2 in my document reader)

3. The B.B.C. News report "Blair becomes 'Sir Tony' and joins top royal order", by Sean Coughlan, dated January 1, 2022:


according to which Sir Tony "says he will be "Sir Tony" rather than Sir Anthony"

Consequently, the current Knights Companions and Ladies Companions of The Order of the Garter are:

British Royal Knights and Ladies, at least in fact*:
1. H.M. The Queen (who joined the Order on November 11, 1947 and became Sovereign thereof upon becoming Queen, February 6, 1952)
2. H.R.H. The Prince of Wales (1958) K.G. (July 26, 1958**) K.T. G.C.B. O.M. A.K. Q.S.O. C.C. P.C. A.D.C.
3. H.R.H. The (2.) Duke of Kent (1934, 1942) K.G. (October 9, 1985) G.C.M.G. G.C.V.O. C.D. A.D.C.
4. H.R.H. The Princess Royal (1987) K.G. (1994***) K.T. G.C.V.O. Q.S.O. C.D. A.D.C.
5. H.R.H. The (2.) Duke of Gloucester (1928, 1974) K.G. (1997) G.C.V.O.
6. H.R.H. Princess Alexandra, The Hon. Lady Ogilvy K.G. (2003) G.C.V.O. C.D.
7. H.R.H. The (1.) Duke of York (1986) K.G. (2006) G.C.V.O. C.D. A.D.C.
8. H.R.H. The (1.) Earl of Wessex (1999) and Forfar (2019) K.G. (2006) G.C.V.O. C.D. A.D.C.
9. H.R.H. The (1.) Duke of Cambridge (2011) K.G. (2008) K.T. P.C. A.D.C.
10. The de-facto Duchess of Cornwall K.G. (January 1, 2022) G.C.V.O. P.C.
*unless otherwise indicated, the year given after a title is the year of the creation of that title, and where another year is given after that one, that title is hereditary (and so is a title preceded by an ordinal number), and the latter year is that of the succession to that title; the date after the post-nominal letters K.G. is—again, unless otherwise indicated—the date of the appointment to the Order, and where only a year, not a full date, is given, the appointment is to be dated April 23 of that year
**my presumption, in item 7.2.1 of this issue of "Notes", was correct, judging by the page "Titles and Heraldry" (scroll down and click the tile "Titles"at the left-hand side) at His Royal Highness's website, according to which "The Prince of Wales automatically became a KG when he became Prince of Wales in 1958" (although His Royal Highness "was not installed until 17th June 1968, at Windsor Castle"):


***though the exact date thereof seems disputed—either April 23 or June 13. And it was interesting to read, in the "Feature" article "The Princess Royal – 70 facts at 70", that "The Princess Royal requested to be installed as Royal Knight of the Order, and not a Lady":


Stranger Knights and Ladies*:
1. H.M. The Queen of Denmark (May 16, 1979)
2. H.M. The King of Sweden (May 25, 1983)
3. H.M. King John Charles I. (the abdicated Spanish king) (October 17, 1988)
4. H.R.H. Princess Beatrice (the abdicated Dutch queen) (June 28, 1989)
5. H.M. The (Japanese) Emperor Emeritus (May 26, 1998)
6. H.M. The King of Norway (May 30, 2001)
7. H.M. The King of Spain (July 12, 2017)
8. H.M. The King of The Netherlands (October 23, 2018)
*see the appendix to this blog post for the evidence for these dates

Other Knights and Ladies*:
1. His Grace The Most Hon. The (5.) Duke of Abercorn (1868, 1979) Bt. K.G. (1999)
2. The Rt. Hon. Field Marshal The Baron Inge (1997) K.G. (2001) G.C.B. P.C. D.L.
3. The Rt. Hon. The Baron Butler of Brockwell (1998) K.G. (2003) G.C.B. C.V.O. P.C.
4. The Rt. Hon. The Baron Morris of Aberavon (2001) K.G. (2003) P.C. Q.C.
5. The Rt. Hon. Sir John Major K.G. (2005) C.H. P.C.
6. The Rt. Hon. The Baron Luce (2000) K.G. (2008) G.C.V.O. P.C. D.L.
7. Sir Thomas Dunne K.G. (2008) K.C.V.O. J.P.
8. The Rt. Hon. Admiral of the Fleet The Baron Boyce (2003) K.G. (2011) G.C.B. O.B.E. D.L.
9. The Rt. Hon. The Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers (1999) K.G. (2011) P.C.
10. The Rt. Hon. Marshal of The Royal Air Force The Baron Stirrup (2011) K.G. (2013) G.C.B. A.F.C. A.D.C.
11. The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Manningham-Buller (2008) L.G. (2014) D.C.B.
12. The Rt. Hon. Prof. The Baron King of Lothbury (2013) K.G. (2014) G.B.E. D.L.
13. The Rt. Hon. The (5.) Baron Shuttleworth (1902, 1975) Bt. K.G. (2016) K.C.V.O. J.P.
14. Sir David Brewer K.G. (2016) C.M.G. C.V.O. J.P.
15. Lady Mary Fagan L.G. (2018) D.C.V.O. J.P.
16. The Rt. Hon. The (3.) Viscount Brookeborough (1952, 1987) Bt. K.G. (2018)
17. Lady Mary Peters L.G. (February 27, 2019) C.H. D.B.E.
18. The Most Hon. The (7.) Marquess of Salisbury (1789, 2003) K.G. (February 27, 2019) K.C.V.O. P.C. D.L.
19. The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Amos (1997) L.G. (January 1, 2022) C.H. P.C.
20. The Rt. Hon. Sir Tony Blair K.G. (January 1, 2022) P.C.
*I have applied to this list the rules stated in the first note to my list of British Royal Knights and Ladies, and the sequence in which I have listed these other Garter Knights and Ladies is that of the relevant Press Releases or Gazette notices. The sequence in each of the pairs for 2011, ’18, and ’19 is, however, reversed in the previously-cited Garter banner list; the Court Circular, too, reverses the sequence of the 2011 pair when mentioned in that year through 2019 (except 2017, when Garter Day activities were cancelled, and 2012), and does likewise for the 2018 pair when mentioned in 2019.

Sources: In addition to the resources available through the links in this blog's sidebar (above all, the Court Circular (plus the rest of its host website), Who's Who, and Wikipedia) and in this and other "Notes" items, I have also used

1. The page "ADDRESSING THE ROYAL FAMILY" at the Debrett's website:


2. The page "Privy Council members" at the British Privy Council's website:


3. The page "THE ROYAL FAMILY OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND", sub-heading "HOUSE OF WINDSOR", by Mr. William Bortrick, at Burke's Peerage's website:


4. p. 112 (132 in the document reader) in "Appendix Six" ("Royal and Vice-Regal Recipients of the Canadian Forces’ Decoration") of The Canadian Forces’ Decoration, by Mr. Christopher McCreery M.V.O., available at the "Canadian Forces' Decoration (CD)" page at H.M. Canadian Government's website:


or go straight hither:


or hither:


P.S. The usually-annual Garter service did not occur in 2020 nor ’21, according to, respectively, the Press Releases "An announcement regarding Royal events in June" and "Trooping the Colour will not go ahead in its traditional form in 2021", dated April 22, 2020 and March 19, 2021, respectively, and both available at the official website of the British Royal Family:



Labels: Camilla Parker Bowles, Order of the Garter, Tony Blair, Valerie Amos

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Lady Day, A.D. 2022

Appendix: Garter appointment dates for the current Stranger Knights and Ladies

The names of at least some of the current Stranger Knights Companions and Stranger Ladies Companions of The Order of the Garter are in the Wikipedia pages "List of current Knights and Ladies of the Garter" (see my "Miscellaneous links") and "Talk:Order of the Garter" (s.v. "Holy Roman garter?"), the London Times article "Order of the Garter" "full list" (Monday, June 16, 2008), and the page "Garter Banner List" at the website of St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle:




(or go straight hither:


"Holy Roman garter?" gives this U.R.L. as the source for its list, but, as you'll see, the link is dead:


I think that I remember that webpage, and I'm inclined to think that the list has been copied and pasted without more than negligible change. Whatever the case, it can serve as a starting point for further investigation.

An alternative starting point is to remember that, at least recently, Stranger appointments occur during State Visits. The official website of the British Royal Family has a "Feature" article titled "State Visits"; click "List of State Visits" on the left-hand side of the page in order to download a list of "Inward State Visits since 1952" and a list of "Outbound State Visits since 1952":




1. H.M. The Queen appointed Her Majesty's Danish counterpart to the Order in 1979, and the only relevant State Visit that year was the outbound one of Wednesday, May 16-Saturday 19 (p. 2), which The Danish Royal House's official website corroborates on the "State Visits" page (s.v. "List of State Visits") there:


According to the news report "THE QUEEN TAKES A TRIP IN THE TUNNEL OF LOVE", by Ann Morrow (in Copenhagen), on p. 19 of The Daily Telegraph (London) of Friday, May 18, 1979 (Issue No. 38552), "Queen Margarethe[ recte Margrethe] was given the Order of the Garter and an English gilt carriage clock by the Queen and Prince Philip" (my interpolation), presumably respectively, at the State banquet aboard H.M. Yacht Britannia the previous night. I presume that "given the Order of the Garter" means 'presented with the Garter Insignia', so The Queen of Denmark must have joined the Order on or before Thursday, May 17, 1979; I think that it's safe to say that May 16, 1979 was the exact date of the appointment.

2. Her Majesty appointed H.M. The King of Sweden to the Order in 1983, and the only relevant State Visit that year was the outbound one of May 25-28 (p. 2), and The Swedish Royal Court's official website corroborates that on the page "State visits 1980-1989" there:


According to the news report "The Queen goes ashore in gondola", by Jenny Shields (in Stockholm), The Daily Telegraph (London), Thursday, May 26, 1983, Issue No. 39793, p. 19, "at a ceremony in the Palace, the Queen presented 37-year-old King Carl Gustav with the Order of the Garter" on Wednesday, May 25, 1983. More accurately, 'presented The King with the Garter Insignia', I presume, so His Majesty must have joined the Order on or before that date, presumably the former.

3. The Queen appointed H.M. King John Charles I. (at the time of the appointment, the reigning King of Spain) a Stranger Knight of the Garter on October 17, 1988, according to Notice No. 21 SI, Notice Type "State Intelligence", Sub-Type "HONOURS AND AWARDS", The London Gazette, Issue No. 51806, Tuesday, July 11, 1989, p. 8095:

(delete "/page/8095" from this and the next U.R.L. for the full issue)


See also the news reports
  • "Sun, smiles and a Latin greeting for the Queen", by Richard Kay in Madrid, Tuesday, October 18, 1988, in The Daily Mail, London, Issue No. 28715, p. 5, which says that, on the 17., "The Queen conferred the Order of the Garter on Juan Carlos"
  • "Affectionate welcome for royal cousins", by Alan Hamilton, reporting from Madrid, Tuesday, October 18, 1988, in The Times, London, Issue No. 63215, p. 7, which says that, on the 17., "The Queen created King Juan Carlos an Extra Knight of the Garter"
October 17, 1988 was first day of the only relevant State Visit by The Queen that year (p. 2); the visit ended on the 21.

4. Her Majesty appointed H.R.H. Princess Beatrice (at the time of the appointment, the reigning Queen of The Netherlands) a Stranger Lady of the Garter on June 28, 1989, according to the same Gazette notice as that for King John Charles I.'s appointment. And on the same day, "The Queen invested The Queen of the Netherlands with the Insignia of an Extra Lady of the Most Noble Order of the Garter", according to the issue of the Court Circular printed on p. 18 of The Times (London), Thursday, June 29, 1989, Issue No. 63433. (Neither the official website of The Royal House of The Netherlands nor that of the British Royal Family give the dates for the State Visit of Her Royal Highness to Her Majesty, though that issue of the Court Circular says that "The Queen of the Netherlands and Prince Claus of the Netherlands arrived at Buckingham Palace this afternoon", and the previous day's issue seems not to mention that royal couple, so June 28 must have been the first day, and according to the news report "Queen's honour for Beatrix", p. 20, South China Morning Post, Friday, June 30, 1989, Vol. XLV, No. 179, Princess Beatrice was "on a three-day visit to Brit-ain" (the last word spanned two lines).)

5. The Queen appointed H.M. The (Japanese) Emperor Emeritus (at the time of the appointment, the reigning Emperor of Japan) to the Order in 1998, and the only relevant State Visit that year was the incoming one of May 26-29 (p. 2), on the first day whereof Her Majesty presented His Majesty with the Garter Insignia. Of the numerous Gale Primary Sources and ProQuest (via the N.S.W. State Library's website (see sidebar)) articles about the State Visit, the most informative for present purposes were the news reports "Thunder of guns met by imperial blaze of modesty THE EMPEROR'S VISIT: [D Edition 1]" (sic), by Valentine Low, Evening Standard, West End final ed., London, May 26, 1998, according to which, on May 26, 1998,
after a lunch in the Bow Room of Buckingham Palace, the emperor was presented with the Order of the Garter. There was no formal conferring upon the emperor of the Order which was simply laid out on a table with the other gifts from the Queen. However, no snub was intended - this, said the Palace, was the norm in such circumstances.
and "A day of protest and reconciliation", by Alan Hamilton, p. 1, The Times (London), Wednesday, May 27, 1998, Issue No. 66212, which put it this way:
On arriving at the Palace, the visitors were entertained to lunch of asparagus mousse, roast chicken and rhubarb parfait. The Queen then took the Emperor into the adjoin-ing Carnarvon Room and, without ceremony, presented him with the Order of the Garter, its star insignia lying in an open box among other gifts.
(The word 'adjoining' spanned two lines.)
Therefore, His Majesty must have joined the Order on or before May 26, 1998, presumably the former.

6. Her Majesty appointed H.M. The King of Norway to the Order in 2001, and the only relevant State Visit that year was that of The Queen to His Majesty from May 30-June 1 (see p. 3), and The Royal House of Norway's website corroborates that on its "State visits during the reign of King Harald" page (s.v. "State visits to Norway"):


According to the Court Circular, "The Queen presented The King of Norway with the Insignia of an Extra Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter" on May 30 at The Royal Palace, Oslo, so His Majesty must have joined the order on or before that date, presumably the former.

7. and 8. Her Majesty appointed H.M. The King of Spain and H.M. The King of The Netherlands to the Order on July 12, 2017 and October 23, 2018, respectively. See item 7.2.1 of "Notes: Tuesday, April 24, 2018-Monday, February 4, 2019 (part 2 of 2)" and item 3 of "Notes: Tuesday, February 5-Monday, July 22, 2019 (part 1 of 3)", to which, for convenience, I link here, along with links to their respective sources:








And for the sake of completeness, see the news item "King and Queen to visit Windsor", dated "07-06-2019", at the official website of The Royal House of The Netherlands, according to which H.M. The (Dutch) "King was appointed a Supernumerary Knight of the Garter during the State Visit to the United Kingdom on 23 and 24 October 2018", and "His Majesty King Felipe VI of Spain" was "appointed as such during a state visit in 2017":

Friday, September 3, 2010

Notes: Friday, September 3, 2010

"Same-sex adoption bill passes House"

In today's Herald:

BIRTH parents who do not want their children to be adopted by a same-sex couple will be able to make their preference known without fear they will breach anti-discrimination laws by doing so.

A bill granting gay and lesbian couples the same rights under adoption law as homosexual individuals and heterosexual couples was passed narrowly by the NSW Legislative Assembly by a vote of 45 to 43 yesterday.

It will be considered by the Legislative Council next week, where the vote is expected to be similarly close.

Christian adoption agencies, which have lobbied strongly against the bill, welcomed the amendment to allow people involved in each case to freely express their preferences about prospective adoptive parents' faith, ethnicity, family situation and sexuality.

The Minister for Climate Change and the Environment, Frank Sartor, said the preference of birth parents would not be binding, but would be assessed against the best interest of the child.

''Why should not the values of the community, whether expressed by donor parents or service providers, be given their due consideration?'' he said.

[...] The chief executive of Anglicare, Peter Kell, said while he was ''disappointed'' the bill had passed through the lower house, the decision to exempt adoption from anti-discrimination laws would allow the agency to continue providing infant adoptions in Sydney.

The independent MP Clover Moore had agreed on Tuesday to include a clause in the Adoption Act to allow church adoption agencies to refuse to provide services to gay and lesbian couples without breaching anti-discrimination laws.

''It means the faith-based organisations like us can continue to operate within our understanding of what is in the best interests of the child without fear of being sued,'' Mr Kell said.

The Bishop of Wollongong, Peter Ingham, said CatholicCare would also continue to provide adoption services. ''From our perspective these amendments provide greater certainty, thus enabling faith-based agencies to continue to provide this service,'' a spokesman for the bishop, Jude Hennessy, said.

Labor and the Coalition allowed their members a conscience vote. The Premier, Kristina Keneally, and the Opposition Leader, Barry O'Farrell, supported the bill.

MPs who voted in favour included the Deputy Premier, Carmel Tebbutt, the opposition health spokeswoman, Jillian Skinner, the Community Services Minister, Linda Burney, and her opposition counterpart, Pru Goward. The leader of the Nationals, Andrew Stoner, voted against, as did the shadow treasurer, Mike Baird, who said in future he might consider voting in favour of ''known'' adoptions, where the child already has a relationship with the parent.

''I am not convinced that the research before us justifies a move to legislate against the time-honoured practice of placing children with both a mother and a father,'' Mr Baird said.

[http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/samesex-adoption-bill-passes-house-20100902-14rpt.html?skin=text-only]

See also

" 'What matters is loving parents, not their sexuality' "
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/what-matters-is-loving-parents-not-their-sexuality-20100902-14rpw.html?skin=text-only

And also The Australian's coverage, which gives different figures for the vote count:

Forty-six MPs voted for the historic bill and 44 voted against it yesterday, after a two-day debate.
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/bill-passed-in-nsw-allowing-gay-couples-to-adopt/story-fn59niix-1225913516368]

And for text of Ms Keneally's Parliamentary speech on the Bill and for related discussion:

http://members7.boardhost.com/CathPews/thread/1283427449.html
(Full Day Hansard Transcript for September 1 available here:
http://www.nswbar.asn.au/circulars/2010/sept/ssa.pdf
More discussion:
http://coo-eesfromthecloister.blogspot.com/2010/09/cmon-george-anthony-pat-geoffrey.html)

And finally: Cardinal Pell in the Sydney Catholic Weekly, via CathNews:

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=23096

Mr. Smeaton on some points in Mr. Blair's memoirs which (points) are interesting from a Catholic/pro-life perspective:

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33505

Two interesting excerpts from two items in today's Vatican Information Service e-mail bulletin:

First item and excerpt:

ACTIVITIES OF POPE BENEDICT XVI IN AUGUST

VATICAN CITY, 2 SEP 2010 (VIS)
- Following is a list of Pope Benedict's activities during the month of August. It includes the Angelus, general and private audiences, other pontifical acts, letters, messages, telegrams and other news. The activities are presented in chronological order under their respective headings.

[...] OTHER NEWS

- 31: Publication of the words pronounced by the Pope at the Mass which concluded his meeting with a group of his former students (Ratzinger Schulerkreis). The meeting took place at Castelgandolfo from 27 to 30 August. [...]
BXVI-ACTIVITIES AUGUST/ VIS 20100902 (1470)

Second item and excerpt:

HOLY SEE-RELATED ACTIVITY IN AUGUST

VATICAN CITY, 2 SEP 2010 (VIS) - Following is a chronological presentation of Holy See-related activities for the month of August:

[...] - 31: Declaration by Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. announcing that the Pope held a series of conversations at Castelgandolfo from 26 to 31 July with the German journalist Peter Seewald. The contents of their talks will be published - in German and Italian - in a book to be released before the end of the year.
.../ VIS 20100902 (230)

The first principle of Satanist ethics: The same as the first principle of atheist ethics

Here's an interesting comment in the combox of a post at Mr. Muehlenberg's blog:

[Comment author:] Dee Graf
[Comment date and time:] 1.9.10 / 6pm
Aleister Crowley, the great prophet of the hippy generation of the 60’s and of the satanic church had this to say, “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law”. In other words “if it feels good, do it” or “just do it”. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? The essence of the spirit of the Age comes straight from the pit of hell.
Dee Graf
[http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2010/08/30/our-sensate-culture/]

Without God, there is no such thing as moral obligation, and since moral liberty is the absence of moral obligation, an atheist ethics is necessarily one in which one has the moral liberty to do whatever one pleases--murder, steal, lie, whatever takes one's fancy. Thus in the secularist moral precept of 'do whatever you want, no matter how self- or mutually-destructive, as long as the parties involved consent', there is no basis for the 'as long as the parties involved consent' bit; that bit simply does not follow from atheistic first principles. For Satanists as well as atheists, 'do whatever you want, no matter how self- or mutually-destructive' is the whole of the Law (a Law in name only, of course--not law, not even genuine liberty, but license).

CathNews featured website: Australian EJournal of Theology

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=23084
http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/research/theology/ejournal/

Obviously not a Traditional publication, but there might be some interesting reading in there nonetheless.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Pius X., Pope, Confessor, A.D. 2010