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by bbridson

Paul Melanson: Bogus Charlatan

February 18, 2012 in Atheism, Catholic Church, Education, Ethics, Law, Morality, Philosophy, Reason, Religion, Religious Freedom, Religious Persons, World Issues

Readers of my blog may recall that back in December of 2011, Paul Anthony Melanson, owner of La Salette Journey, who very clearly did not bother to do any research whatsoever with respect to who I am or the actual extent of my writing. In his post dated December 5, 2011, Melanson accuses me of misrepresenting both my identity and the nature of my personal position on such issues as religion. I tried leaving numerous comments on Melanson’s site in response to his post, but Melanson’s cowardly ways kept him from allowing the comments to be posted and also kept him from responding in any manner to these comments or the post that I wrote in response to his comments. I had given up on ever hearing from Melanson, then wouldn’t you know it: earlier today I realized that Melanson has written yet another post about me.

Paul Anthony Melanson

Paul Anthony Melanson

The purpose of this post is to portray me as someone who believes roman catholics should not be entitled to a voice in the public realm. He then adds, “Maybe he would like to stick Catholics in concentration camps?“ But where Melanson gets these notions is beyond me. As we shall see, my simply never having said something or advocated something in no way restricts Melanson’s ability to claim that I said or did x. I would now like to address the issues that Melanson raises within the body of his post. Read the rest of this entry →

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Church Prays for Montreal Canadiens

February 10, 2012 in Atheism, Belief, Canada, Catholic Church, Human Rights, Law, money, News, Philosophy, Reason, Religion, Religious Freedom, Social Justice

For those of us with access to electronic and other types of media, we are all very much aware of the ‘holier-than-thou’ attitude of the roman catholic church. The roman catholic church, we are told, in this world that is full of ignorance, hate and violence, is concerned with bringing peace to the world and ensuring that human rights are respected across the board. For those of you with a well-developed rational faculty, you will also be aware of how little all the words of the catholic church mean: at the end of the day, the church cares more for such things as professional sports than it does about things like pedophilic clergy, the religious freedom of every person, or otherwise respecting the rights that are to be guaranteed to all persons via international laws and declarations.

Below is an ad that was published in yesterday’s Journal de Montreal and La Presse, publications in the Montreal area. The ad was paid for by the roman catholic diocese of Montreal:

Prayer Ad for Montreal Canadians

Prayer Ad for Montreal Canadians. Source: http://www.diocesemontreal.org

The diocese of Montreal hosts a page discussing this ad on their website, in which they write: Read the rest of this entry →

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Pedophilia, Catholicism and the First Amendment in Vermont

February 6, 2012 in Atheism, Belief, Bishops, Catholic Church, Ethics, Law, Morality, Philosophy, Religion, Religious Freedom, Religious Persons, sexual abuse of children

There is one thing we all know, whether we happen to be religious or non-religious in nature: if I break the law and in a court it can be shown that I broke the law, I am found guilty and must pay the prescribed penalty. Though this should come as no surprise to anyone, there are some who do not think that this is fair. In the case of organizations, there are some who believe that in the event they are found to have systemically violated a particular law that they should only be penalized for some of the wrongdoing. This is the case of the roman catholic diocese of Vermont: they have already paid out millions of dollars in law suits because they employed pedophilic clergy, but do not think it is fair that further suits will place the future of the diocese in jeopardy. That’s right folks! The roman catholic diocese of Vermont wants to actually evade their responsibility to suffer penalties for committing crimes. Sure…it might be bad that children were raped and scarred for life, but for a diocese to go bankrupt for these crimes is unacceptable!

Bishop Salvatore R. Matano

Bishop Salvatore R. Matano. Source: www.vermontcatholic.org

The roman catholic diocese of Vermont is led by bishop Salvatore R. Matano, and in the cases of pedophilic clergy it is represented by the law firm of Cleary, Shahi & Aicher and lawyers Kaveh Shahi and Tom McCormick. To date the Vermont roman catholic diocese has had a plethora of priests charged with pedophilia (46 lawsuits since 2002, according to Burlington Free Press - BFP) and in May of 2010 the diocese paid out $17.6 million that was supposed to cover all 26 pending cases of alleged sexual abuse and rape. In order to make the $17.6 million payout, the diocese was forced to sell the property of its headquarters for $10 million. However, now that the diocese is facing another law suit involving the diocese and how it historically handled the pedophiles in their ranks, it is working with its lawyers to do whatever it can to avoid paying out any further damages. Here’s the reason: Read the rest of this entry →

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