Pacitalia
10-02-2008, 05:44
From PBC.pc
http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00000/F_200701January04ed_im_897a.jpg
Pacitalian prime minister Archetenia Nera is
leading a charge against the Roman Catholic
Church, which wants to reopen the debate
around gay marriage, and, eventually, have
repealed the legislation that was passed in 2002.
PM, archonate both resolute on gay marriage issue
Ell and Nera want the issue dropped; I.C. de Burgos pushing for repeal
9 February 2008
Pacitalia's Catholic hierarchy is pushing for the repeal of a 2002 law which legalised gay marriage. One political party in the national parliament came out in support of the comments, defying a resolution passed in the lower house that supported the prime minister's position on the issue and called for the church to retract the comments.
The Nationalist Conservatives released a statement of support in response to the comments of Archbishop Juán Tomás de Campio. The archbishop argues "immorality is crushing Pacitalia's soul", particularly "legislation that allows sinnery and sodomy to run rampant among our people". Archbishop de Campio, the principal leader of the Roman Catholic church in Pacitalia, implored the prime minister to begin the process of reversing the law legalising gay marriage.
"[Pacitalia is] a just and tolerant society," prime minister Nera retorted. "We may cherish Christian values and principles in the halls of private religious buildings or in our homes, but in the public realm, Pacitalia is, and will continue to be, a secular country founded on secular laws, running secular institutions."
When faced with the reality that de Campio "will not budge", and may wedge a division between devout Christians and secular voters in the country, Nera was equally stubborn.
"Quite frankly," she said, "it's not something that we will put up for discussion from a governing point of view. Religiously, I think this can be debated until we're all blue in the face. But it is not the church that decides the course and content of legislation, and to that, the law was passed overwhelmingly in the parliament. Six years on, it still enjoys a wide majority of support among Pacitalians – by political predisposition, by gender, by ethnicity, by religion and by age."
The latest basic support-or-oppose poll regarding the issue of gay marriage was done in November during the parliamentary election campaign. Sixty-five percent of Pacitalians support the law as it stands and accept the legality of gay marriage despite any religious affinities. Only 29 percent of Pacitalians say they oppose gay marriage, while nine percent are unsure where they stand on the once-contentious issue.
The prime minister had a fork-tongued response for the NC's message of support to Inmaculada Concepción de Burgos, the Margherian village that serves as the holy seat of Christianity in Pacitalia.
"We have seen the inability of the Nationalist Conservatives to separate the realms of the church and the state," Nera said. "We know they are a socially traditional party, we know they used to be the Partia di Traditionale, we know that most of their membership is from the old PdT and we know their leader was the PdT leader before 2007. Their behaviour has been the same, consistently showing open support for religion before the state and the rights of the citizen. I do not oppose their right to endorse any particular position but I don't think it shows any level of credibility on their part."
Pacitalian archonate Dr Timothy Ell was prime minister when the law was passed in March 2002. He expressed his disappointment at the archbishop's comments, urged the prime minister to maintain her current stance on the issue and advised the public to try and consider all points of view on the issue. He also proposed the issue be dropped.
"The archbishop's comments reflect a troubling oversimplification of the issue," Dr Ell, 40, said. "He does not consider the fact that the majority of his followers do not share his views, at least not to his level of severity. We can respect devout Christianity's concerns, but the humanistic, tolerant elements of the Catholic faith form an overwhelming majority of our citizenry and are thus inclined to support a tolerant point of view on the issue. The hallmark of a progressive society is tolerance, and Pacitalia is a progressive society. The archbishop's comments and views are incompatible with our modern, liberal democracy.
"I think it's important we see this issue put away," Dr Ell added. "We have a checklist of pressing issues to be considered that are much more important to the progression of our society. [The gay marriage] issue is not something Pacitalians want dragged up, front and centre. We are past that issue. We have grown beyond it."
Permanent link (http://en.pbc.pc/news/pac/pol/newsReader.bfx?pr=61795130&disp=en_pc) | Blog this (http://www.openblog.rp/partners/PBCNews/blogstory.php?news=PBC61795130) | Share this (http://en.pbc.pc/news/services/sa.bfx?st=61795130) | Notifications (http://en.pbc.pc/news/services/nb.bfx?st=61795130&su=1)
Copyright © 2008 Pacitalian Broadcasting Corporation. Some portions copyright Agenza-Prensato Repubblicana (PPA-APR).
61795130 EN PC
http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00000/F_200701January04ed_im_897a.jpg
Pacitalian prime minister Archetenia Nera is
leading a charge against the Roman Catholic
Church, which wants to reopen the debate
around gay marriage, and, eventually, have
repealed the legislation that was passed in 2002.
PM, archonate both resolute on gay marriage issue
Ell and Nera want the issue dropped; I.C. de Burgos pushing for repeal
9 February 2008
Pacitalia's Catholic hierarchy is pushing for the repeal of a 2002 law which legalised gay marriage. One political party in the national parliament came out in support of the comments, defying a resolution passed in the lower house that supported the prime minister's position on the issue and called for the church to retract the comments.
The Nationalist Conservatives released a statement of support in response to the comments of Archbishop Juán Tomás de Campio. The archbishop argues "immorality is crushing Pacitalia's soul", particularly "legislation that allows sinnery and sodomy to run rampant among our people". Archbishop de Campio, the principal leader of the Roman Catholic church in Pacitalia, implored the prime minister to begin the process of reversing the law legalising gay marriage.
"[Pacitalia is] a just and tolerant society," prime minister Nera retorted. "We may cherish Christian values and principles in the halls of private religious buildings or in our homes, but in the public realm, Pacitalia is, and will continue to be, a secular country founded on secular laws, running secular institutions."
When faced with the reality that de Campio "will not budge", and may wedge a division between devout Christians and secular voters in the country, Nera was equally stubborn.
"Quite frankly," she said, "it's not something that we will put up for discussion from a governing point of view. Religiously, I think this can be debated until we're all blue in the face. But it is not the church that decides the course and content of legislation, and to that, the law was passed overwhelmingly in the parliament. Six years on, it still enjoys a wide majority of support among Pacitalians – by political predisposition, by gender, by ethnicity, by religion and by age."
The latest basic support-or-oppose poll regarding the issue of gay marriage was done in November during the parliamentary election campaign. Sixty-five percent of Pacitalians support the law as it stands and accept the legality of gay marriage despite any religious affinities. Only 29 percent of Pacitalians say they oppose gay marriage, while nine percent are unsure where they stand on the once-contentious issue.
The prime minister had a fork-tongued response for the NC's message of support to Inmaculada Concepción de Burgos, the Margherian village that serves as the holy seat of Christianity in Pacitalia.
"We have seen the inability of the Nationalist Conservatives to separate the realms of the church and the state," Nera said. "We know they are a socially traditional party, we know they used to be the Partia di Traditionale, we know that most of their membership is from the old PdT and we know their leader was the PdT leader before 2007. Their behaviour has been the same, consistently showing open support for religion before the state and the rights of the citizen. I do not oppose their right to endorse any particular position but I don't think it shows any level of credibility on their part."
Pacitalian archonate Dr Timothy Ell was prime minister when the law was passed in March 2002. He expressed his disappointment at the archbishop's comments, urged the prime minister to maintain her current stance on the issue and advised the public to try and consider all points of view on the issue. He also proposed the issue be dropped.
"The archbishop's comments reflect a troubling oversimplification of the issue," Dr Ell, 40, said. "He does not consider the fact that the majority of his followers do not share his views, at least not to his level of severity. We can respect devout Christianity's concerns, but the humanistic, tolerant elements of the Catholic faith form an overwhelming majority of our citizenry and are thus inclined to support a tolerant point of view on the issue. The hallmark of a progressive society is tolerance, and Pacitalia is a progressive society. The archbishop's comments and views are incompatible with our modern, liberal democracy.
"I think it's important we see this issue put away," Dr Ell added. "We have a checklist of pressing issues to be considered that are much more important to the progression of our society. [The gay marriage] issue is not something Pacitalians want dragged up, front and centre. We are past that issue. We have grown beyond it."
Permanent link (http://en.pbc.pc/news/pac/pol/newsReader.bfx?pr=61795130&disp=en_pc) | Blog this (http://www.openblog.rp/partners/PBCNews/blogstory.php?news=PBC61795130) | Share this (http://en.pbc.pc/news/services/sa.bfx?st=61795130) | Notifications (http://en.pbc.pc/news/services/nb.bfx?st=61795130&su=1)
Copyright © 2008 Pacitalian Broadcasting Corporation. Some portions copyright Agenza-Prensato Repubblicana (PPA-APR).
61795130 EN PC