My biggest complaint about being Catholic, and I’m not Catholic, is the whole idea of taking care of poor people but being so crazy anti-contraception. If they just preached contraception there’d be a lot less poor people. Regardless of how hairy they were.
The Catholic Church doesn’t really do a good job of taking care of poor people, either. Try looking into some of the clinics Mother Teresa ran in India- they were squalid, overcrowded, and necessary medicine was often withheld from people due to Teresa’s belief that suffering was holy.
Two years late, but you’re mistaken when you say that Mother Teresa believed suffering is holy. This is not what the Catholic Church teaches and as a faithful Catholic Mother Teresa would not have believed that.
I can also say from personal experience, having worked in facilities run by the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa’s order) both in the US and in Haiti, that suffering is the last thing they want their patients to go through.
If the clinics were squalid it would be for lack of means. If they are overcrowded it would be from an abundance of charity.
My problem on the issue is the government shouldn’t be concerning itself on the matter at all. Not a single issue in any election has been contraception provided by the government. Expensive wars, collapsing infrastructure, a messed up economic model, real health care reform… Condoms are completely insignificant compared to these matters. It’s nothing more than an issue brought up to obscure real matters so that no one has to deal with them and politicians can gain favor by fighting for it and fighting against it. When the matter came up someone should have stood up, said, “This is pointless. We have more important issues with greater consequences to deal with and by comparison even discussing whether or not the government should provide anyone condoms and other contraceptives is ridiculous.”
Unfortunately, once it’s brought up (and you’re right, it’s used as a distraction from real issues), it has to be dealt with. It’s too easy for opportunistic individuals and parties whip their constituents into a frenzy at the expense of women’s rights (or gay rights, or workers’ rights, or take your pick). I’d rather not waste 5 minutes fighting battles that were settled 50 years ago.
I’ve been reading my way through the entire strip, and through this arc was starting to think that as well…. pretty much every male who’s been campaigning against hair removal has been clean shaven…
Nice use of strawman arguments there, but I think I see a little flaw in your Bishop Smith character. The Catholic church is actually very much against the death penalty. To date, the Catholic church, or in particular the Vatican, has stated that they have felt that only World War II qualified as what they would call a “justified war”. So, if you’re going to write about those BIG MEAN OL’ CATHOLICS, try and actually know something about them. It’ll at least make your argument a lot more convincing.
Do they often excommunicate politicians who support the death penalty? Or who start unnecessary wars? I’m not saying that the Catholic church isn’t against the death penalty, or isn’t in favor of peace. The question is how much effort the hierarchy puts into fighting for those views. In the past year, I’ve heard A LOT about the church’s stance on birth control, but literally NOTHING about the church’s stance on the death penalty, or a host of other far more theologically and socially relevant issues. So, no, there’s no straw man here.
I wouldn’t know. I don’t obsessively keep track of which politicians the Catholic church chooses to excommunicate or not. In the past year, you probably heard a lot about the church’s stance on birth control because it was brought up currently in the media. As far as I know, the death penalty or any particular wars (such as the war in Iraq) hasn’t been brought up recently (or recently when this comic was made). If it’s a recent controversial event, people are going to be more likely to talk about it. Of course, maybe if you bothered to actually learn something about the Catholic church then maybe you’d know of their policies on theological and socially relevant issues. Just sayin’.
You don’t have to “obsessively keep track” of anything; you have Google. And if you look at the list of who the Catholic Church has excommunicated recently, you’d notice a distinct lack of anything having to do with the death penalty:
I pay almost no attention to the catholic church, yet I am still aware that they excommunicated several doctors and most of a single family for getting and abortion for their young daughter. You know who wasn’t excommunicated? The man who raped her and got her pregnant in the first place.
They may well be in opposition to the death penalty and wars, but they’re not prioritised enough to threaten people’s afterlives over with as much regularity as reproductive options are.
Don’t Quakers pay taxes for wars? Just because you don’t believe in a service the government provides, doesn’t mean you don’t have to contribute to it. Majority is supposed to rule in this country.
Hahaha! Hair removal is so worth the government’s time!
Imagine if the government only concerned itself with things that were worth its time… I can dream, can’t I?
My biggest complaint about being Catholic, and I’m not Catholic, is the whole idea of taking care of poor people but being so crazy anti-contraception. If they just preached contraception there’d be a lot less poor people. Regardless of how hairy they were.
But then there’d be fewer Catholics. So.
The Catholic Church doesn’t really do a good job of taking care of poor people, either. Try looking into some of the clinics Mother Teresa ran in India- they were squalid, overcrowded, and necessary medicine was often withheld from people due to Teresa’s belief that suffering was holy.
Two years late, but you’re mistaken when you say that Mother Teresa believed suffering is holy. This is not what the Catholic Church teaches and as a faithful Catholic Mother Teresa would not have believed that.
I can also say from personal experience, having worked in facilities run by the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa’s order) both in the US and in Haiti, that suffering is the last thing they want their patients to go through.
If the clinics were squalid it would be for lack of means. If they are overcrowded it would be from an abundance of charity.
My problem on the issue is the government shouldn’t be concerning itself on the matter at all. Not a single issue in any election has been contraception provided by the government. Expensive wars, collapsing infrastructure, a messed up economic model, real health care reform… Condoms are completely insignificant compared to these matters. It’s nothing more than an issue brought up to obscure real matters so that no one has to deal with them and politicians can gain favor by fighting for it and fighting against it. When the matter came up someone should have stood up, said, “This is pointless. We have more important issues with greater consequences to deal with and by comparison even discussing whether or not the government should provide anyone condoms and other contraceptives is ridiculous.”
Unfortunately, once it’s brought up (and you’re right, it’s used as a distraction from real issues), it has to be dealt with. It’s too easy for opportunistic individuals and parties whip their constituents into a frenzy at the expense of women’s rights (or gay rights, or workers’ rights, or take your pick). I’d rather not waste 5 minutes fighting battles that were settled 50 years ago.
I’m of the opinion that a woman’s depilatory needs should be covered by insurance.
Everybody benefits, don’t you think?
I know I would!
OBJECTION, Judge obviously shaves and there for commits hair removal daily. He is unfit to continue.
I’ve been reading my way through the entire strip, and through this arc was starting to think that as well…. pretty much every male who’s been campaigning against hair removal has been clean shaven…
…a classic case of “Do as I say, not as I do!”
Hilarious and painful at the same time (wait – is that an Epilady joke?)! Nice work on the facial expressions, too.
Ok, the death penalty is significant. Stupid comic charicter…I actuall wrote a report on the death penalty in grade school!
Nice use of strawman arguments there, but I think I see a little flaw in your Bishop Smith character. The Catholic church is actually very much against the death penalty. To date, the Catholic church, or in particular the Vatican, has stated that they have felt that only World War II qualified as what they would call a “justified war”. So, if you’re going to write about those BIG MEAN OL’ CATHOLICS, try and actually know something about them. It’ll at least make your argument a lot more convincing.
Do they often excommunicate politicians who support the death penalty? Or who start unnecessary wars? I’m not saying that the Catholic church isn’t against the death penalty, or isn’t in favor of peace. The question is how much effort the hierarchy puts into fighting for those views. In the past year, I’ve heard A LOT about the church’s stance on birth control, but literally NOTHING about the church’s stance on the death penalty, or a host of other far more theologically and socially relevant issues. So, no, there’s no straw man here.
I wouldn’t know. I don’t obsessively keep track of which politicians the Catholic church chooses to excommunicate or not. In the past year, you probably heard a lot about the church’s stance on birth control because it was brought up currently in the media. As far as I know, the death penalty or any particular wars (such as the war in Iraq) hasn’t been brought up recently (or recently when this comic was made). If it’s a recent controversial event, people are going to be more likely to talk about it. Of course, maybe if you bothered to actually learn something about the Catholic church then maybe you’d know of their policies on theological and socially relevant issues. Just sayin’.
You don’t have to “obsessively keep track” of anything; you have Google. And if you look at the list of who the Catholic Church has excommunicated recently, you’d notice a distinct lack of anything having to do with the death penalty:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_excommunicated_by_the_Roman_Catholic_Church#21st_century
R.Cohen: Going through your archive now. Loving it all!
Thanks, iSKUNK! And thanks for the link.
I’d add that the reason birth control was in the news recently… was because the Catholic church brought it up.
I pay almost no attention to the catholic church, yet I am still aware that they excommunicated several doctors and most of a single family for getting and abortion for their young daughter. You know who wasn’t excommunicated? The man who raped her and got her pregnant in the first place.
They may well be in opposition to the death penalty and wars, but they’re not prioritised enough to threaten people’s afterlives over with as much regularity as reproductive options are.
Actually, there specifically IS a Catholic Campaign to End the Death Penalty by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Swell job they’re doing on promotion.
Don’t Quakers pay taxes for wars? Just because you don’t believe in a service the government provides, doesn’t mean you don’t have to contribute to it. Majority is supposed to rule in this country.
This and the previous comic are not displaying.
Thank you for the heads-up! I don’t know why they disappeared but I fixed it.
Please tell me this one is NOT based on a true story!!
They all are.