Does the Pope smoke dope?

If not maybe he should consider taking it up! His latest book likens legal abortion to the holocaust. He says: "It was a legally elected parliament which allowed for the election of Hitler in Germany in the 1930s... We have to question the legal regulations that have been decided in the parliaments of present day democracies. The most direct association which comes to mind is the abortion laws... Parliaments which create and promulgate such laws must be aware that they are transgressing their powers and remain in open conflict with the law of God and the law of nature."

Now what strikes me (apart from some historical points about Germany in the 30s and some scientific points about the differences between an embryo or foetus and a post-birth baby, child or adult) is his view that parliaments "are transgressing their powers". So he is implying that countries should be run on religious lines first and the will of the people second. Doesn't seem very fair on people in those countries where the dominant religion is not catholicism. Frankly it doesn't seem very fair on people of other religions living in predominantly catholic countries.

Hitler's Germany (however "elected") forced civilians into committing atrocities. Laws legalising abortion do not force anyone to have an abortion against their wishes. The bible (which doesn't specifically mention abortion, and consistently describes the moment of birth as being the time when a person enters the world and begins to exist) preaches against lying and jealously. Should we be passing laws locking people up if they appear to have commited such sins?

Curiously when poor old beleaguered Ken Livingston drew parrallels between Nazi Germany and journalists he was heavily criticised for it. Should the Pope publically apologise to pro-choice campaigners and governments for his comments? I think so...

...I also think that as soon as we scratch the surface here we start to smell the familiar stench of any-old-law, any-old-story, any-old-theory, as long as it makes women's lives as miserable and arduous as possible. No thanks.