Extremists try to silence Irish President

Uh-oh. The conservatives are upset. Whatsoever shall we do?

The University of San Francisco (a Catholic school) recently awarded Irish President Mary McAleese an honorary degree. McAleese was invited to the university to accept this honor.

Conservatives in the Catholic Church (think my first high school) are furious. That's because McAleese has fairly liberal positions on ordaining women as priests and on gay rights. Conservatives are angry despite the fact that McAleese didn't address these topics during her acceptance speech.

I usually don't post here about stories that are more about religion than government. In this case, however, I must - because conservatives tried policing a political figure's thoughts. I'm also mentioning it here because conservatives in the Church have tried using government as a tool to impose their beliefs on the public.

This story also underscores conservatives' stances that keep everyone down. Their side stockpiles capital to fight socially liberal influences, when they could instead be helping the disadvantaged.

It's a shame there's individuals around who try to deny the President of Ireland her right to have dissenting beliefs. Thought has in effect been criminalized.

(Source: http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20081216.htm)