I've gotta know: What on Earth does it mean to be "A mackerel snapping Papist"?
Francois | 11.26.02 - 2:08 pm | #

Old insult from when Catholics were known for eating fish on Fridays.
Mark Shea | Homepage | 11.26.02 - 2:12 pm | #

I believe it means to eat fish on Fridays and to honor the Pope...

Seriously, though, I hope Rod's piece and others like it become a wake-up call for Christians in general and Catholics in particular. It's most certainly move it or lose it time, as far as our civil rights are concerned.
victor | Homepage | 11.26.02 - 2:13 pm | #

Is that it? I had imagined the Spanish Inquisition and fish and something elastic and... I don't know what, but it seemed pretty colorful.
Francois | 11.26.02 - 3:41 pm | #

Francois:

Print the legend.
Mark Shea | Homepage | 11.26.02 - 3:49 pm | #

Excellent article Rod! What is so scary is that the vast majority of people are oblivious to how their own rights are quietly being trampled by a select, politically correct, few. Western society definitely needs to wake up and smell the java. It's scary to think of what will happen if it doesn't.
Michelle K. | 11.26.02 - 4:16 pm | #

What rights are being quietly trampled in this case? The right to receive a lot of press coverage? Wasn't Gutierrez arrested and charged with murder?
Tom | Homepage | 11.26.02 - 4:49 pm | #

The rights that Rod refers to are at the end of the essay, where he discusses the wimpy "punishment" handed out to the vandals of the Cathedral in Canada, and laws restricting Canadian Christians from evangelizing. There but for the grace of God goes this country.

On the whole, I don't know that Rod is saying that there is a "right" to press coverage, but that if it is good for the goose, it's good for the gander. Hate crimes legislation is wrong, not only because it duplicates already-in-effect laws against murder, but because it naturally employs a double standard. Sure, Gutierrez was arrested and charged, but he might face a different punishment if he were a heterosexual "Christian" killing a homosexual or a minority.

Catherine
Catherine | 11.26.02 - 5:04 pm | #

Thank-you Catherine, your explanation was precisely what I meant when I remarked that our "rights our being trampled".
Michelle K. | 11.26.02 - 10:14 pm | #