Conscience articles from March 2008

Conscience archives from March 2008

Editor's note.(Editorial)
March 22, 2008... THE DEBATE OVER ABORTION IS ALWAYS WITH US. WE CAN RELY ON election season in the US to bring the discussion to the fore, as happened in Italy this spring also. There seems to be no respite for those involved in abortion advocaey in Latin...

Marriage.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
March 22, 2008... STEPHANIE COONTZ'S article, "The Validity of Marriage: Who Gets to Decide? Who Gets to Choose?" (Winter 2007-2008) was a tour de force, explaining the ever-fluid nature of marriage. As somebody who has been in a monogamous relationship for many...

Religion in Europe.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
March 22, 2008... NO ONE WHO READ NEIL Datta's article, "For Whom the Bell Tolls," (Winter 2007-2008) could be other than impressed by its scholarship and analysis. All the reliable indicators show Christianity continues its long decline in Europe. Christian...

Bishops initiate antiabortion campaign in Brazil.(The Church and Abortion)(Brief article)
March 22, 2008... THE CATHOLIC HIERARCHY in Brazil has initiated a year-long campaign against abortion and other reproductive health issues. In what one report called an "aggressive, almost provocative stance," the hierarchy has used its annual Fraternity...

Majority in Ireland disagree with Hierarchy's stance on key issues.(The Church and Abortion)(Brief article)
March 22, 2008... A POLL BY THE IRISH EXAMINER has shown that the majority of Catholics follow their consciences on several priority issues for the church hierarchy. When asked if they agree with church teachings on issues related to sex and marriage, the...

Archbishop attacks university coach.(The Church and Abortion)(Raymond Burk and Rick Majerus)(Brief article)
March 22, 2008... ST. LOUIS ARCHBISHOP Raymond Burke called for recriminations against the St. Louis University's men's basketball coach, Rick Majerus, after the coach, interviewed at a political rally, told reporters that he is "personally prochoice" and...

Come again?(The Church and Abortion)(Dave Obernderger)(Brief article)
March 22, 2008... Wisconsin Right to Life project chair Dave Obernderger, a Catholic, sent a mailing to the residents of Racine, Wisc., that included two-inch plastic fetuses and accompanying materials. Mr. Obernderger seemed surprised by the news that some...

Catholic hierarchy opposes tax cut on condoms.(The Church and Condoms)(Brief article)
March 22, 2008... BISHOPS IN IRELAND BECAME embroiled in a debate over tax policy when they denounced a decision to reduce the tax on condoms from 11 to 13.5 percent as "wrong, regrettable and contrary to the common good." As health campaigners welcomed the...

Cases drop, payouts rise.(Sex Abuse Scandal)(Brief article)
March 22, 2008... THE LATEST ANNUAL REPORT from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops shows that while the number of reported cases of clergy sex abuse dropped in 2007, payouts to victims doubled to their highest level yet. There were 691 new allegations in...

Italian bishops seek self-censorship for actors.(End Notes)(Brief article)
March 22, 2008... THE ITALIAN CONFERENCE of Catholic bishops has called on actors to refuse to take part in "vulgar and destructive" erotic scenes in films. Father Nicolo Anselmi, head of the youth section of the bishops' conference, said that an explicit sex...

Vatican announces new sins for the 21st century.(End Notes)(Brief article)
March 22, 2008... MSGR. GIANFRANCO GIROTTI, regent of the Vatican Penitentiary (sometimes referred to as the office of sin and penance) created a storm when he seemed to suggest that the Vatican was considering updating the list of centuries-old Seven Deadly...

Abortion: freedom and responsibility in the 21st century: a roundtable conversation.(Discussion)
March 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IN LATE FEBRUARY, CATHOLICS FOR CHOICE SPONSORED a roundtable conversation on recent political, ethical, moral and social developments in the abortion debate. DRAWING A PARALLEL TO JOHN Muir's environmental...

Theological observations on visiting an abortion clinic: early in 2008, members of Catholics for Choice's European advisory group visited an abortion clinic. In what follows, Catholic theologian Anthony Padovano provides an overview of the visit and group members share their thoughts about the experience.(Essay)
March 22, 2008... CHOICES CONFESSION I HAVE BEEN TROUBLED BY THE abortion question for a long, long time. I seek an answer that is clean, easy, certain, final. But life will not let that happen. This is not an issue a Catholic theologian prefers to...

Catholics for choice and abortion: prochoice Catholicism 101.
March 22, 2008... WE STRIVE TO BE AN expression of Catholicism as it is lived by ordinary people. We are part of the great majority of the faithful in the Catholic church who disagree with the dictates of the Vatican on matters related to sexuality,...

On solid ground: over 35 years, abortion polls show remarkable consistency.(Table)
March 22, 2008... AMERICANS HAVE ACTIVELY DEBATED THE abortion issue since the 1973 US Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade declared that the right to privacy extends to a woman's right to decide whether to have an abortion. At every turn, opponents and...

Responding to a real need: liberalizing Mexico City's abortion law.
March 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ALTHOUGH IN THE LAST decade there has been an international trend toward liberalizing abortion policy, in Latin America complex differences continue to exist between countries in the region. Since 2006, abortion has...

A public misinformation campaign: the US bishops are unusually shy about their involvement in an antiabortion campaign.
March 22, 2008... By Catholics for Choice THE ANTICHOICE LOBBY REGULARLY throws long-disproved myths at a wall in the apparent hope that, eventually, something will stick. Perhaps it thinks that if it repeats its distortions often enough, they will...

Out of the shadows and into the streets: the connection between immigration rights and reproductive and sexual health.
March 22, 2008... IN 2006, LATINO COMMUNITIES marched and organized to demand a fair chance to achieve their full potential, to contribute to society, and to exercise fundamental human rights. The ability to live life with dignity is far from equal in this...

Back to the future? 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days.(abortion)
March 22, 2008... "DO YOU USE NOXIOUS POTIONS? Any instruments? Do you tell how to induce abortions?" The senior police officer was urbane and not unsympathetic; handsome in his dark blue uniform. There was maybe a prison term waiting in the answer. This...

A hero to all she helped.(This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor)(Book review)
March 22, 2008... This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor Susan Wicklund with Alan Kesselheim (PublicAffairs, 2008, 268pp) 978-1-58648-480-4, $24.95 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] COUNTLESS BOOKS AND ARTICLES have described the wrenching...

Finding the right solution to the AIDS crisis.(Book review)
March 22, 2008... The Invisible Cure Helen Epstein (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007, 352pp) 978-0-37428-152-6, $26.00 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IN HER LATEST BOOK, THE INVISIBLE Cure, author Helen Epstein offers a compassionate and realistic...

Sex talk, with a bishop standing by.(Book review)
March 22, 2008... Human Sexuality in the Catholic Tradition Kieran Scott and Harold Daly Horell (eds.) (Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2007, 233pp) 978-0-74255-241-8, $26.95 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THIS ECLECTIC COLLECTION of essays and...

The Age of American Unreason.(Bookshelf)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2008... The Age of American Unreason Susan Jacoby (Pantheon, 2008, 362pp) Susan Jacoby focuses sharply on what she sees as the turn against rationalism and intellectualism occurring in the United States that has left the population unable to...

Conceiving Life: Reproductive Politics and the Law in Contemporary Italy.(Bookshelf)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2008... Conceiving Life: Reproductive Politics and the Law in Contemporary Italy Patrick Hanafin (Ashgate Publishing, 2008, 124pp) Hanafin traces the progression of Italian re productive health laws from fairly progressive in the 1980s and...

Double Cross: The Code of the Catholic Church.(Bookshelf)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2008... Double Cross: The Code of the Catholic Church David Ranan (Theo Press, 2006, 426pp) Double Cross is a candid and rather unforgiving look into the nature and misdeeds of the Catholic hierarchy through history. The author begins by...

Encountering the Mystery: Understanding Orthodox Christianity Today.(Bookshelf)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2008... Encountering the Mystery: Understanding Orthodox Christianity Today Bartholomew I (Doubleday, 2008, 302pp) Having already been credited as the first orthodox leader to successfully place the environment high on the church's priority...

Googling God: The Religious Landscape of People in their 20s and 30s.(Bookshelf)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2008... Googling God: The Religious Landscape of People in their 20s and 30s Mike Hayes (Paulist Press, 2007, 208pp) Aimed at offering advice on ministering to young adults, this book examines the diversity within and between the two...

Tracking religion.(In the Course of a Lifetime: Tracing Religious Belief, Practice, and Change)(Book review)
March 22, 2008... In the Course of a Lifetime: Tracing Religious Belief, Practice, and Change Michele Dillon and Paul Wink (University of California Press, 2007, 282pp) 978-0-52024-901-1, $24.95 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THIS BOOK, CO-AUTHORED BY...

Zero tolerance for unsafe abortion.(Abortion: A Worldwide Perspective)(Book review)
March 22, 2008... Abortion--A Worldwide Perspective Colin Francome and Marcel Vekenams (Middlesex University Press, 2007, 200pp) 978-1-90475-023-9, _19.99 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THIS BOOK IS BY TWO PEOPLE whose longstanding efforts to promote...

I Don't Believe in Atheists.(Bookshelf)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2008... I Don't Believe in Atheists Chris Hedges (Free Press, 2008, 224pp) New York Times correspondent Chris Hedges takes aim at what he calls "New Atheists" such as Christopher Hitchens, Richard Oawkins and Sam Harris, claiming that they are...

Reasons to Believe: One Man's Journey among the Evangelicals and the Faith He Left Behind.(Bookshelf)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2008... Reasons to Believe: One Man's Journey among the Evangelicals and the Faith He Left Behind John Marks (HarperCollins Publishers, 2007, 384pp) A seasoned journalist reflects on his faith as he tries to gain greater understanding of what...

Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know--and Doesn't.(Bookshelf)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 22, 2008... Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know--And Doesn't Stephen Prothero (HarperOne, 2008, 304pp) The chair of the religion department at Boston University provides a secular argument for religion being taught in America's...

Postscript.(on abortion, homosexuality, divorce)
March 22, 2008... "The formation of adolescent boys is best accomplished by male role models, as the formation of girls is best accomplished by women... Hence in the boys' athletic competitions, it is important that the various role models (coaches and...

Index: abortion by the numbers.(Table)
March 22, 2008... Index: Abortion by the Numbers Percentage of US women who obtain abortions who are under 25 years old 50% Percentage of all pregnancies in the US (excluding miscarriages) that end in...