Why don't Catholics fight for a law agianst non-believers recieving communion?

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I have recently written about morality and faith on my blog. it would be great if anyone could take the time to read it and leave comments with your opinions

frankiejatheism.blogspot.com/

many thanks
Frankie J
Well, I did find it ironic for someone that eschews faith, you have a number of beliefs that you do not substantiate with evidence. I would recommend that you elaborate on a few of them and corroborate them with facts. It would lend it a more credible read rather than come across as a diatribe against Theism.
 
  1. Just because I am not gay, does not mean I cannot argue against it as a destructive lifestyle.
I have some questions.

How is being gay in and of itself destructive? The spread of AIDS? That is a predominately heterosexual problem now, especially in the third world. Are you attempting to tie homosexuality to promiscuity? I am not sure what you mean by gay lifestyle.

3
. I’m pretty sure two gay people can live together in compliance with the law. If they are having many sexual partners, that is their own decision. The state is not running gay couples apart from each other. The real issue of this debate is public and moral recognition of their status. They can get their visitation rights via lawyers. Given the vast expansion of acceptance of the gay movement since the 1970s, one should expect such suicide statistics to go down.
Several things. The push for gay marriage is tied to a desire for gay couples to be able to make a commitment to a single partner. The state would be pushing gays away from each other by sodomy laws, which many conservatives support (but not all, I know many libertarians who oppose them on constitutional grounds). I agree the real issue is public acceptance of their status. As far as suicide is concerned, an interesting correlation is if the loved ones close to the gay man or woman shun the person or make them feel welcome in the family.
  1. Gay marriage is a civil issue. Lent abstinence is a pure religious issue. The Church has not called for the removal of meat being served on Fridays in Lent. Your mixing apples and oranges.
But then why does the church get involved in civil issues? It should be more concerned about the latter, not the former. The church could not be forced by the state to recognize a gay marriage anyway, I mean the CC does not even recognize the marriages of those who have a civil divorce and remarry. That state does not and should not force the Church to do so.
  1. Yes, society discriminates against gay couples. It also discriminates against individuals. We discriminate against non-citizens.
So gay citizens should be treated as non citizens? I believe they have the same rights as you and I do, even if I do not agree morally with the choices they make.
 
So you didn’t want to clear up the assumptions we might be working on here because we are obviously basing this hypothetical on different assumptions…
That’s just it. Its my scenario. Inventing other hypothetical assumptions and so on to apply, or red herrings, it does not matter to me, because that is not my scenario. Even worse your inventions are farcical in nature. Come on.…the weight of the mining equipment…Too far to drive to work…we cannot grow food over seas…people do not travel between continents for work…. All these hypothetical assumptions you invent are clearly things that we already do. How seriously can I take someone that denied the math and then denies the empirically disprovable nature of his own claims?
 
That’s just it. Its my scenario. Inventing other hypothetical assumptions and so on to apply, or red herrings, it does not matter to me, because that is not my scenario.
Well you didn’t outline what your scenario was, all I have to go on is, “Everybody lives in Texas, in a city 345 times the size of NYC with similar population density.” That’s it, you didn’t say anything else, that’s why I want to know the assumptions that this hypothetical is based on in your mind? Were the other continents colonized before everyone ‘moved’ into this massive city? Did the city just appear out of nothing or was it built over a large period of time using resources from around the world before people moved in?
Even worse your inventions are farcical in nature. Come on.…the weight of the mining equipment…Too far to drive to work…we cannot grow food over seas…people do not travel between continents for work…. All these hypothetical assumptions you invent are clearly things that we already do.
Yes but would we be able to do them in the “everyone lives in Texas” scenario?
How seriously can I take someone that denied the math
Do you ever plan to support this claim or are you happy to just have it dismissed over and over again?
and then denies the empirically disprovable nature of his own claims?
You haven’t disproven anything, you have ignored it and admitted ignoring it, you never properly reinforced the hypothetical with any information so I had to make assumptions.
 
I have some questions.

How is being gay in and of itself destructive? The spread of AIDS? That is a predominately heterosexual problem now, especially in the third world. Are you attempting to tie homosexuality to promiscuity? I am not sure what you mean by gay lifestyle.
I did not mean to come across as saying being gay was in of itself destructive. I was trying to argue that the homosexual act is destructive medically to oneself, and to society. Gay lifestyle is the act of having homosexual relations.
Several things. The push for gay marriage is tied to a desire for gay couples to be able to make a commitment to a single partner. The state would be pushing gays away from each other by sodomy laws, which many conservatives support (but not all, I know many libertarians who oppose them on constitutional grounds). I agree the real issue is public acceptance of their status. As far as suicide is concerned, an interesting correlation is if the loved ones close to the gay man or woman shun the person or make them feel welcome in the family.
I think we agree that gay marriage is really about acceptance. A gay couple could make commitments to each other if they really wanted too. Yes, the suicides should be looked at in light of family/friend acceptance for who they are.
But then why does the church get involved in civil issues? It should be more concerned about the latter, not the former. The church could not be forced by the state to recognize a gay marriage anyway, I mean the CC does not even recognize the marriages of those who have a civil divorce and remarry. That state does not and should not force the Church to do so.
The Church works for the common good society and instructs Her members to do so as well. This is why the Church and religious get involved with civil issues.

Another reason the Church and Her people get involved is because gay marriage affects the Church. Already, Catholic orphanages have had to close because the state was going to force them to let gay couples adopt. This is a slightly different issue than gay marriage in of itself, but they are very related.

boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/03/11/catholic_charities_stuns_state_ends_adoptions/

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11019895
So gay citizens should be treated as non citizens? I believe they have the same rights as you and I do, even if I do not agree morally with the choices they make.
No, that was not my point, nor my conclusion. My point was that we discriminate on certain things, and therefore it is not always bad to discriminate. Sometimes it is bad to discriminate though. Gay people have the same rights as we do. They are free to marry a person of the opposite sex as I am. However just like them, I am unable to marry someone of the same sex.

They may make their own decisions in their own homes. However, it is against the government’s interest to promote a lifestyle that is not life-giving, and does not add to the bedrock of the nation.
 
Well you didn’t outline what your scenario was…
Yes, I did. I stated that the entire population of the world could live in Texas. Nothing else, no flights of fantasy and imagination, nothing but that. I indulged your first objection because I assumed that you were going to be reasonable and pointed out its not any different than living in New York City. It is patently true and you refused to admit it. Then you started to posit ridiculous hypothetical situations that we cannot overcome, while ignoring the fact we have literally done so. So I did outline my scenario. There is no room for any opinion or ambiguity here. The math is very clear. The entire population of Earth could live in Texas at the same density of New York City. That’s a bare undeniable fact, that you seem unable to admit.
 
Well, I’m not sure why people are disputing that the world’s population can live in an area the size of Texas. According to my math, the corresponding population density would be under 26,000 persons per square mile. By way of comparison, the County of New York has a population density just over 71,000 residents per square mile. If you want to argue the feasibility of a city that has a population of 6.8 billiion, that’s a different question altogether.
 
Well, I’m not sure why people are disputing that the world’s population can live in an area the size of Texas. According to my math, the corresponding population density would be under 26,000 persons per square mile. By way of comparison, the County of New York has a population density just over 71,000 residents per square mile. If you want to argue the feasibility of a city that has a population of 6.8 billiion, that’s a different question altogether.
They do it in NYC. We know it is entirely within the realm of our technical capability. Since it is something we clearly do already, it is ludicrous to suggest otherwise.
 
I did not mean to come across as saying being gay was in of itself destructive. I was trying to argue that the homosexual act is destructive medically to oneself, and to society. Gay lifestyle is the act of having homosexual relations.
That seems like a broad but fitting definition, I mean I get what you mean. I tend to speak of lifestyles-plural-for either, because not all homosexuals are the same, as are heterosexuals. Some choose to live a life of celebacy, others committ to one partner, some have open relationships, and some are plain promiscuous-in both camps. I don’t approve of the last two.
I think we agree that gay marriage is really about acceptance. A gay couple could make commitments to each other if they really wanted too. Yes, the suicides should be looked at in light of family/friend acceptance for who they are.
We are in agreement then. I mean when people committ suicide, its tragic, regardless of the reasons or circumstances.
The Church works for the common good society and instructs Her members to do so as well. This is why the Church and religious get involved with civil issues.
I think the church should do such. I think both conservatives and progressives agree about that, I just think often people disagree on what is best for society. Right now I would rather see a child raised by a gay couple than in an institution, if those where the only two choices.
Another reason the Church and Her people get involved is because gay marriage affects the Church. Already, Catholic orphanages have had to close because the state was going to force them to let gay couples adopt. This is a slightly different issue than gay marriage in of itself, but they are very related.
I am glad that you see the difference between the two. Marriage or not, though, I do think same sex couples are going to try to adopt. Sure if there are other reasons to tell a couple no, thats not a problem. I know in the 70s my parents tried to adopt from Catholic agencies, but were turned away because they were not Catholic. The Church was discriminating but I don’t think my parents rights were violated, since they were able to go elsewhere to adopt my sister. The sticky point comes when the couple is turned away purely because they are same sex-when they would otherwise be qualifed to adopt a child, or when people want to pass laws barring same sex couples from adopting from anywhere.
No, that was not my point, nor my conclusion. My point was that we discriminate on certain things, and therefore it is not always bad to discriminate. Sometimes it is bad to discriminate though. Gay people have the same rights as we do. They are free to marry a person of the opposite sex as I am. However just like them, I am unable to marry someone of the same sex.
I agree its not always bad to discriminate. When people say they have a right to marry people of the opposite sex, they are already conceding that marriage is a right for adults. At one time, interracial marriage was forbidden, yet the courts eventually decided that it was unconstitutional to forbid that as well. So on what legal grounds to we base making the arbitary distinction that two consenting adults of the same sex cannot marry?

Just a note-I do not support the church marrying same sex individuals. I only personally support civil unions for same sex couples. Religiously speaking, there are not same sex unions in the Bible, and Christian marriage has always been defined as a union between a man and a woman.
They may make their own decisions in their own homes. However, it is against the government’s interest to promote a lifestyle that is not life-giving, and does not add to the bedrock of the nation.
What is that based on?
 
Yes, I did. I stated that the entire population of the world could live in Texas. Nothing else, no flights of fantasy and imagination, nothing but that.
Well unfortunately the hypothetical needs more if you are going to suggest people could actually “live” like that.
I indulged your first objection because I assumed that you were going to be reasonable and pointed out its not any different than living in New York City.
How do you know that it’s not any different to living in NYC? You seem to ignore the resource requirements of that many people and the difficulties that having everyone being localized in a small place makes transport and production.
Then you started to posit ridiculous hypothetical situations that we cannot overcome, while ignoring the fact we have literally done so. So I did outline my scenario.
You just admitted that the only thing you mentioned was everyone living in Texas, that in itself requires assumptions to be made regarding how they are living, how the city got there, whether everyone has always lived in a local place or whether everyone just migrated there after the city was built/magically appeared. We need to know what assumptions you are using if we are going to clarify how this hypothetical is running.
There is no room for any opinion or ambiguity here. The math is very clear.
On the population density, yes it is. On the resource requirements, yes it is and both of those put together tell us that the entire population of the world could not sustain life on both American continents let alone in a city the size of Texas.
The entire population of Earth could live in Texas at the same density of New York City. That’s a bare undeniable fact, that you seem unable to admit.
They could exist in a city the size of Texas but until the problem of resource requirements are met and shown wrong, then we cannot say that they could “live” there.
 
The sticky point comes when the couple is turned away purely because they are same sex-when they would otherwise be qualifed to adopt a child, or when people want to pass laws barring same sex couples from adopting from anywhere.

I agree its not always bad to discriminate. When people say they have a right to marry people of the opposite sex, they are already conceding that marriage is a right for adults. At one time, interracial marriage was forbidden, yet the courts eventually decided that it was unconstitutional to forbid that as well. So on what legal grounds to we base making the arbitary distinction that two consenting adults of the same sex cannot marry?

What is that based on?
The development of a child is a very important time. It is critical they are cared for in a manner that best suites their development. The argument against gay adoption is that children need a father and mother. Fathers and mothers bring different traits to a family. A mother is the emotional rock of the family while a father provides a more protective role. Gay adoption would be putting children in fatherless or motherless homes.

As for legal grounds, there are not much grounds for either side. We should make a decision on the grounds that traditional marriage (man a woman…so this includes interracial marriage) provides a natural healthy development and environment for society to continue on. Same-sex marriage does not allow for sexual unity or procreation. Their act is contrary to the natural order. Giving benefits or legal recognition to their status would be meaningless. We give benefits to traditional marriage because they provide a healthy environment for nurturing children. Same-sex marriage does not.

If society does not want to protect this natural healthy environment, we have no reason to exclude polygamy. All arguments for same-sex marriage can be turned into arguments for polygamy.

The bottom line is you protect the natural order for the good of society. Allowing same-sex marriage or any other deviation would be contradictory to the natural order and would make that meaningless.
 
Well unfortunately the hypothetical needs more if you are going to suggest people could actually “live” like that…
The math says that it is clearly possible for the entire population of the world to live in an area the size of Texas at the density of New York City. You are wrong. There is no room for any opinion on the matter. We can clearly “live” at that population density. We already do so. You cannot truthfully deny it. We all have goods in our homes that come from all over the world. Clearly we can produce and transport, and deliver goods all around the world. We already do so. You cannot truthfully deny it. Yet you do.
 
The math says that it is clearly possible for the entire population of the world to live in an area the size of Texas at the density of New York City.
False, the math shows that if everybody could live there the density of the city would be similar to that of New York, however the math also says that the two American continents do not have enough resources to sustain life for 6.9 billion people making it impossible for the entire human population to live there.
You are wrong. There is no room for any opinion on the matter.
Says the person who admitted ignoring objections to what he is saying.
We can clearly “live” at that population density.
Yes, the population density isn’t the problem though, it’s the population size and the resource requirement.
We already do so. You cannot truthfully deny it.
I’m not denying it, you just aren’t addressing my objections.
We all have goods in our homes that come from all over the world. Clearly we can produce and transport, and deliver goods all around the world. We already do so. You cannot truthfully deny it. Yet you do.
I am questioning if in your hypothetical other continents have been colonized? This is an assumption that matters with regards to the possibility of acquiring resources which is the base of my objections. If they have been colonized, that is a step forward but does not make a strong basis for your conclusions. The reason we have decent resource trading between continents is because of the massive population spread across the world, in your hypothetical this wouldn’t exist. That’s why we need to clear up what assumptions you are basing the hypothetical on.

It also would help if you actually addressed the problem of resource requirements as the math quite plainly states that there is not enough resources on both American continents and we would be operating at 1/5th of our required resources if everybody lived on those two continents and used as much of the resources as possible from both of those continents.
 
They do it in NYC. We know it is entirely within the realm of our technical capability. Since it is something we clearly do already, it is ludicrous to suggest otherwise.
I agree when it comes to accommodations that’s is quite feasible. However, a couple of posters have misconstrued (purposefully or otherwise) the concept in order to advance their arguments. I doubt if any of them if asked where they live, they would presume the question pertains to a resource sustainability/feasibility standpoint.
 
The development of a child is a very important time. It is critical they are cared for in a manner that best suites their development. The argument against gay adoption is that children need a father and mother. Fathers and mothers bring different traits to a family. A mother is the emotional rock of the family while a father provides a more protective role. Gay adoption would be putting children in fatherless or motherless homes.
I hear what you are saying, I’m not sure I buy into hard and fast gender roles like that, not that differences between men and women don’t exist, because they do.
As for legal grounds, there are not much grounds for either side. We should make a decision on the grounds that traditional marriage (man a woman…so this includes interracial marriage) provides a natural healthy development and environment for society to continue on. Same-sex marriage does not allow for sexual unity or procreation. Their act is contrary to the natural order. Giving benefits or legal recognition to their status would be meaningless. We give benefits to traditional marriage because they provide a healthy environment for nurturing children. Same-sex marriage does not.
Proof? I mean at one time, interracial marriage was not protected, nor was it seen as traditional. People opposed it on religious grounds! It seems such harm that same sex child raising would cause is more in the minds and perceptions of those morally opposed to homosexuality than in reality. The ability to procreate has nothing to naturally has nothing to do with ones ability to raise a child.
If society does not want to protect this natural healthy environment, we have no reason to exclude polygamy. All arguments for same-sex marriage can be turned into arguments for polygamy.
The bottom line is you protect the natural order for the good of society. Allowing same-sex marriage or any other deviation would be contradictory to the natural order and would make that meaningless.
Well polygamy is by nature procreative, so if we use the natural order and ability to procreate arguement, we have no reason to exclude polygamous families from being allowed to adopt or have their marriages legally recognized. That arguement becomes I double edged sword.

I am enjoying this discussion,you are making me think. 👍
 
Isn’t it the same thing as gay marriage? We expect the state to deny certain people access to marriage on the grounds that our definition of the sacrament does not allow them to be married. Shouldn’t the state therefore also deny certain people access to communion on the grounds that our definition of that sacrament does not allow them to receive communion?
No, it’s not the same thing. Reception of communion is a religious matter; the Church shouldn’t need the state’s help, nor should the state intervene.

Marriage is a natural human institution. It’s more primordial than religion, many cultures’ religions did not oversee marriage matters, and no one religion has a monopoly on marriage.

It’s this natural human institution that we seek to preserve from radical alterations which remove from the picture the centrality of organic bodily union and its potential for human procreation.
 
As amusing as the suggestion that gay marriage opponents want to legislate religion invariably is, let me both reiterate that this debate has nothing to do with religion and link to this article from the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy:

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1722155

Therein lies the real argument against redefining/restructuring the institution of marriage.
 
As amusing as the suggestion that gay marriage opponents want to legislate religion invariably is, let me both reiterate that this debate has nothing to do with religion and link to this article from the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy:

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1722155

Therein lies the real argument against redefining/restructuring the institution of marriage.
“In the article, we argue that as a moral reality, marriage is the union of a man and a woman who make a permanent and exclusive commitment to each other of the type that is naturally fulfilled by bearing and rearing children together, and renewed by acts that constitute the behavioral part of the process of reproduction.”

I have only read the abstract and might read the lot if I get time but this to me has several big implications. It proposes that marriage should only be acceptable when reproduction is possible and that the behavioral part of the reproductive purpose should be fulfilled.

One of those implications is that it permits only a couple capable of naturally baring children are permitted marriage regardless of the genders of those marrying.

Another big implication is that this person is trying to set a set standard for behavior within the reproductive process. How should this standard be set? Where should one stop when preventing some people the right to marry who they wish?

So here we have a set standard of permitted behavior for those that marry and we also have a reproductive necessity for people to marry. why should we set or accept these standards? Should we ban people from getting married if they follow a different religion? If they’re a different race? Where do we stop if we think the majority have the right to dictate how all of this should be for everyone else. Many nations these days recognize that protection for the minorities is one of the most important political agendas and this article is advocating the opposite just because it disagrees with homosexuality, a minority. people are already suggesting that we should listen to the KKK and their opinions on the minorities.

The ‘standards’ that this article proposes could have disastrous effects and the motives it proposes abandons freedom and protection of minorities and for what goal I don’t know, I have no idea how following this kind of mentality could benefit anyone.
 
I agree when it comes to accommodations that’s is quite feasible. However, a couple of posters have misconstrued (purposefully or otherwise) the concept in order to advance their arguments. I doubt if any of them if asked where they live, they would presume the question pertains to a resource sustainability/feasibility standpoint.
There are no resource or sustainability problems, that’s just another objection that ignores reality. We clearly have enough resources to feed the worlds population, because we already do so. We can clearly move those resources all over the world as we wish. We already do so. There is simply no room for opinion here. I have pointed this out repeatedly. They know it as well as I. They just cannot admit that their cherished belief, “the world is overpopulated” is wrong. That’s what this is really about.
 
… the math shows that if everybody could live there the density of the city would be similar to that of New York…
There is no room for opinion here, the math and the empirical evidence all prove you wrong. You obviously cannot admit to being wrong no matter what. This isn’t giving a good fight, its not defending your position with gusto. All which I can respect. This is a different thing, this is tantamount to denying the earth is round, the earth orbits the sun, or that 1+1=2. You are completely and utterly cornered. So instead of disposing of your cherished belief, you deny reality. Which tells us that if you have a cherished belief, it doesn’t matter what the evidence or logic says. You should be a theist. Faith is OK here.
 
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