In 1533, Galileo was condemned for publicising his heretical theory of a heliocentric universe and sentenced to house imprisonment where he remained until his death.

“Galileo died in 1642. Exactly 350 years later, in 1992, Pope John Paul II formally exonerated Galileo, relieving him posthomously of the church’s proscriptions.”
http://www.bookrags.com/biography/galileo-galilei-wsd/

These reflections of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger on Galileo were published in 1990:
http://ncronline.org/node/11541

Someone will have to point out where in the Bible it says “suffer not the children to be sent unto homes inhabited by sodomites”

Good news.

There should be no religious exemptions to any law.

Why should religious homophobes have a right to ignore discrimination laws if secular bigots don’t have that same right?

quite right too, believing in a sky fairy and its dogma is not an excuse to discriminate.

@4

Especially if said sky-fairy had nothing to say on the subject of gay adoption..!

Fabulous news – good on the Charity Commission (though it’s a bit of a no-brainer).

I’m sure the great china teapot in the sky will turn any prospective gay parents into pillars of salt if it’s that bothered…

@5 Mr S.Pill

Surely if the sky fairy of this group’s choice HAD had something specific to say on the subject of gay adoption (and think we have to assume the smart money would be that the burning bush/finger writing on the wall/blinding light on the road to Damascus or whatever would consider it “a bad thing”)… that would be all the MORE reason for the less credulous to stand around in a big circle, point at people of faith and laugh until they either saw the error of their ways, or at least had the good grace to keep their ridiculous bigotry to themselves?

@Galen10

Oh yes, it’s just a little ironic that the so-called Christians get themselves in such a tizz about people fancying other people when the main bit of what Jesus [apparently] said was “be nice to everyone”.

Most importantly, what effect will this have on the number of adoption agencies? Weren’t there threats by the Catholics to close them down?

What if this leads to fewer adoptions and more children in care?

@10 yurrzem

Although I’m unsure of the number of adoptions that might “not happen” as a result of this ruling, or of the Catholic church removing itself from the provision of such services, it would need to be offset against the number of adoptions by qualified gay couples which don’t happen if the disgraceful bigotry of the Church’s policy was allowed to stand, and also agains the moral argument that their discrimination should not be permitted simply because their religious beliefs mandate it.

Any overt or implied threat by the Church to close down such agencies simply demonstrates that they care more about religious dogma than the welfare of children… assuming that there was any doubt given their response on this issue and the issue of child abuse by members of the priesthood.

God’s obviously not *that* arsed over gay adoption.

After all he killed thousands over gay marriage – this time he just flooded the Big Brother house.

9&10

Your concerns are eminently valid given that only Catholics run adoption agencies.

Oh yes that’s the ticket, good to see the right wing trolls defending bigotry.

Ok – at the risk of a load of stupid abuse – the fact is that the Catholic adoption agencies overwhelmingly dealt with children that nobody else would take — including the mainstream groups that are favoured by gay couples. No gay couples approached these agencies, so what was the problem?

The families that adopted were ones willing to take on the most difficult and older children and local authorities recognised the expertise and commitment of the Catholic agencies in this.

The bottom line is that he so-called liberal-left are more concerned with what ‘looks’ good than what is good. Shame on them.

As opposed to the shame that the Catholics should have for abandoning all those children who have, in your worldview there, nobody else to turn to, just because a few of them might possibly end up being adopted by some gayers.

Remember, we didn’t say they had to shut down. We just said they had to be fair, non discriminatory, and not bigoted. They were the ones who said “nope, that’s far too much for us.” I really don’t think we’re the ones who should be feeling selfish or shameful over this particular act, here. Frankly, I’m glad that people are starting to stand up to the blackmailing of society by its bigoted members. “Let us deny our services to some people, or we’ll shut up shop and then nobody gets to play! So Nyah!”

These are Christians supposedly following Christ, right? The Christ who was the associate of prostitutes and tax collectors? The Christ who said “suffer the children to come unto me, for as such is the Kingdom of Heaven?” Yeah, but it’s all our fault, because we had some standards of basic human decency and respect that they didn’t feel able to live up to.