Social Studies teacher: Don't you dare say bad things about the President!

[Ben Kenobi]

Students disrespecting the Pope?

Obama worship.

[DaShi]

The teacher is right. The one thing I learned from FOX News during the Bush administration is that criticizing the president is tantamount to treason.

[MRT144]

This is Texas, not North Carolina. Here - you get a commendation for saying the exact same thing. Obama's not terribly well liked among Catholic schools and teachers in general, and Texas is even more so. Especially not when he's put our health care in limbo. That's really appreciated, btw.

You don't deserve health care.

[Ben Kenobi]

You don't deserve health care.

Obama has no right to tell Catholics to fund contraception.

[giblets]

If it really makes you that mad, I guess I support it

[MrFun]

She said some stupid crap when by the sounds of it some precocious little **** was yanking her chain a bit. No she shouldn't have her career ruined over it.

Okay . . . firing may be tad too much.

[MrFun]

Obama has no right to tell Catholics to fund contraception.

Newflash, this just in! About 98 percent of Catholic women probably use contraceptives anyway!

[MrFun]

Newsflash, this just in! The Catholic Church lost the war against contraceptive a long time ago!

[Ben Kenobi]

Newsflash, this just in! The Catholic Church lost the war against contraceptive a long time ago!

Which is why I suppose the Church continues to teach that it is contrary to the Faith? Is Obama Pope now?

[MrFun]

So why doesn't the clergy ex-communicate 98 percent of the Catholic women from the Catholic religion for using contraceptives?

[Ben Kenobi]

So why doesn't the clergy ex-communicate 98 percent of the Catholic women from the Catholic religion for using contraceptives?

Perhaps because that number encompasses only a small fraction of Catholic women, and includes many women who were not Catholic when they used contraceptives? If you ever used contraceptives at any point of your life, you would count - irrespective as to whether you were a Catholic or no. Also the studies only looked at those who were presently sexually active and fertile...

Why not simply ask the majority of Catholic women without disclaimers? Because saying that slightly less than half of all women use contraception would be quite less effective, and would likely embolden those opposed to publicly funded contraception. Instead using certain broad definitions of 'everyone is doing it', you can convince people that yes, everyone does do it.

[Elok]

The 98% figure, like many oft-cited statistics, is a bit misleading:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/the-claim-that-98-percent-of-catholic-women-use-contraception-a-media-foul/2012/02/16/gIQAkPeqIR_blog.html

In other words, a woman may have sex only once, or she may have had a partner who only used a condom once, and then she would be placed in the 98 percent category. Jones said the correct way to describe the results of the research is this:

“Data shows that 98 percent of sexually experienced women of child-bearing age and who identify themselves as Catholic have used a method of contraception other than natural family planning at some point in their lives.”

EDIT: While we're discussing misleading statistics, the "abortion is only 3% of Planned Parenthood's services" line is also misleading. That figure is achieved by treating every service separately; about one out of every ten women who goes to PP gets an abortion. Still small, but not ridiculously so.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/about-the-planned-parenthood-chart/2011/08/25/gIQAvTlhnQ_blog.html

[kentonio]

The 98% figure, like many oft-cited statistics, is a bit misleading:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...eqIR_blog.html

Why is that misleading? Is it only a sin if you do it a certain number of times?

[Elok]

Why is that misleading? Is it only a sin if you do it a certain number of times?

"Have used it at some point" and "currently/regularly use it" are two different things. As are "women who have had sex" and "women who are currently sexually active." Also, note that 15% either used nothing at all or practiced the ludicrous (still not Church-approved) "withdrawal" method. It's really just that only 2% bother with natural family planning.

[The Mad Monk]

Why has my thread turned into a procreation battlefield?