Good man John Gormley: Bishops told not to interfere with the passage of legislation.

T

The_Banker

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John Gormley tells um where to go!!

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/gormley-tells-bishops-stay-out-of-politics-462095.html

The Green Party leader has asked Catholic Bishops not to interfere with the passage of civil partnership legislation through the Oireachtas.

Bishops have called for a free vote of parliamentarians who are to vote on the legislation.

John Gormley is insisting that Government TDs and Senators should vote with their parties.


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I'm slightly torn. I think everyone should be able to vote the way they feel, I'm not a fan of "party lines". However, I object to allowing people to vote along the lines of "religious conscience". Especially when we've enough evidence to show the Church has displayed little of either for some time.
 
When I first saw the title of this thread I though Gormley had pulled the Greens out of Government.
 
The_Banker said:
Bishops have called for a free vote of parliamentarians who are to vote on the legislation.​
Click to expand...

The bishops want the deputies to look at the issue and vote as they wish.
Not to slavishly follow the party whip.

I see nothing wrong with this at all.
The bishops are lobbying, no different to what IBEC, Congress, the IFA or Tom Parlon and the CIF do every single week.
Or "Save our local hospital" in some regional town
 
micmclo said:
The bishops want the deputies to look at the issue and vote as they wish.
Not to slavishly follow the party whip.

I see nothing wrong with this at all
Click to expand...

Would they push for a free vote if the vote was to ban gay marriage? Besides, that is not the point. Bishops should not be urging political parties how to conduct there voting.

Finally a politician tells the RCH to butt out.
 

The difference is the Church is seeking to interfere with state policy and are asking for the vote to be based on "religious conscience" not what would lead to a fair and equal society.
 
But do we not have enough threads on AAM already about TD's following the party whip and never thinking for themselves?

Now the bishops call for something different and they are told to keep out.

Anyway we elected these TD's, they'll take a vote and we'll follow it whatever happens.
 
Even those with total disdain for the Church should grudgingly accept that the Church are as entitled as any other interest group to express their view. In fact their beliefs probably compel them to do so. I don't remember Gormley complaining when the Bishops backed Lisbon.

This is a terrible piece of 'progressive' legislation anyway and will create a mess by imposing a legal framework on those who just want to cohabit. They should stop tinkering with things which aren't broken.
 
While I support the civil union bill (I’m a liberal me) I don’t see what’s wrong with the Catholic Church lobbying in support of it’s own beliefs. I disagree with them but that’s what democracy is about. Of course we have to protect ourselves from the tyranny of the majority and boy were the RC Church tyrannical when they had the chance but, thankfully that’s not the case any more.
 
My own fairly low opinion of Gormless hasn't improved as a result of this ridiculous party-political utterance. Mind you the bishops have a lot more that they could occupy themselves with than this non-issue. Politicians with a conscience, if that's not an oxymoron, won't need telling not to blindly follow the whips. I also support civil unions.
 
This legislation hasnt been thought through.

While I agree with some aspects of it, I'm wondering if there will be some unsavoury knock on effects, particularly on the inheritance side.
 
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