Notes: Monday-Monday, January 24-31, 2011

1. Projections for Muslim population growth

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/muslim-population-growth-to-boom-study/story-e6frg6so-1225995607652

Labels: demography, Islam

2. On abortion and suicide

2.1 Some figures on abortion in the U.S., South Australia, and Russia

U.S.:
http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35748

South Australia:
http://members7.boardhost.com/CathPews/msg/1296030442.html

Russia:
http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3284

2.2 Mr. Obama and the European Court of Human Rights on the implications of a 'right to privacy' for, respectively, abortion and suicide

Today marks the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that protects women’s health and reproductive freedom, and affirms a fundamental principle: that government should not intrude on private family matters.
[http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/01/22/statement-president-roe-v-wade-anniversary]

Of course, to be more precise, what Mr. Obama meant to say when is he said that "government should not intrude on private family matters" is that 'government should not intrude on some but not all private family matters'--presumably he thinks, despite the logical inconsistency, that a father should be prevented, where feasible, from committing infanticide.

Meanwhile,

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the “respect for private life” found in the European Convention of Human Rights includes the right of individuals to choose freely to commit suicide.
[http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35725]

(See this AQ comment for a different, but still valid, perspective on Mr. Obama's comment.)

Labels: abortion, Barack Obama, demography, E.C.H.R., human rights, morality, suicide

3. "SCIENTISTS are getting closer to finding a non-physical definition of the kilogram"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/race-for-new-kilo-equivalent/story-e6frg6so-1225993858116

Labels: physics

4. Various letter-writers on so-called gay marriage and related questions

Below is my transcription of four letters, apparently not available on-line, which were published in The Weekend Australian Magazine's "Feedback" section (page 4) last Saturday. I don't necessarily agree with the whole content and/or expression of each of these letters, but each makes at least one good point:

"Tying the Knot" (Jan 15-16), eulo-gising "same-sex" marriages, is sugar-coating a poison pill. The usual anec-dotes are presented about happy homosexual unions. We are beguiled with images of beautiful babies with same-sex "parents". Wait for the posion pill to act on these babies. Then we will see a little girl wrapping herself around a male father figure, or a male young-ster crying, "I wish I had a mother."
Ian Seccombe
Epping, NSW

Most people probably have no serious objection to same-sex relationships or legalised unions, but expropriating the word "married" so that its traditional meaning is lost is another matter.
Rob Davies
Point Lonsdale, Vic

I have been in a male gay relationship for 31 years and my partner and I both agree that marriage is a binding commit-ment between male and female. How I would have preferred to be born a heterosexual and to be able to have had children of my own, but I recognise they are my wants only, without considera-tion for the child. I believe that a child needs that father and mother parenting role model to have the opportunity to achieve the best for their life. Same-sex parenting must surely have a confusing influence on a child's development.
Roger Phillips
Adelaide, SA

It is wonderful that couples, gay or straight, who are unable to conceive children naturally have the opportunity to become parents but please consider the rights and feelings of their offspring. They may not want to know their full identity now but I can assure you they will at some time in the future. Surely it is everyone's basic human right to know their full identity.
Bronwyn Vincent
Macgregor, ACT

Labels: families, G.L.B.T., marriage, morality, parenthood

4. "Gays vow respect in marriage debate"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/gays-vow-respect-in-marriage-debate/story-e6frg6nf-1225997089933

Labels: G.L.B.T., marriage, morality

5. Blog comments by me

Two which I've submitted at Joshua's blog here and here, and this one at Terra's blog:

Cardinal Pole said...

"[Felix is] disconcerted by the lack of fairness in referring to the SSPX.

"As whenn Father Gerald says that "the Lefebvre group stresses Latin for the Mass ...", trivialising their actual concerns."

I agree that Father trvialises the S.S.P.X.'s concerns about the N.O.M. Isn't Msgr. Lefebvre on record as saying something like that if the T.L.M. had simply been translated into the vernacular without any other modification then the S.S.P.X. could not justifiably have rejected such a Mass? (I don't ask that rhetorically; is my recollection accurate, and if so where might it be verified?)

February 1, 2011 2:39 AM
Your comment has been saved and will be visible after blog owner approval.
[http://australiaincognita.blogspot.com/2011/01/just-call-me-catholic-please.html]

I address the questions which I've asked there to my readers here, too.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. John Bosco, Confessor, A.D. 2011