Stepping on the Eggshells of Religion and Politics

Beginning of article

I'M stepping on eggshells writing about religion or politics.

They are particularly brittle if that means commenting, again, on Bishop Bill's treatment or entering the civil union or same-sex marriage debates. So here goes . . .

Without implying any similarity whatsoever in the substance of those two issues, I nevertheless believe that neither can be resolved by rational debate. Each has a high aI believea factor.

Each debate is made fruitless by depending for resolution upon a bottom line that goes something like this: aThe Pope saysa, followed by a traditional discourse on an apparently God-given power to be, sometimes, infallible.

Similarly, in …