Surrogacy; Palace Letters doco; Morrison and BF Pence

Published: Wed, 01/10/24

RSA Daily

For atheists, rationalists and secular humanists in Australia

Thursday, January 11, 2024

Rationale, the magazine of the Rationalist Society of Australia

Good morning ,

My North American correspondent has a good friend, all of whose 3 children were formed by surrogacy. She and her husband are Jewish but the surrogates were not. To 'make' her children Jewish, they had to go through a complicated process.

It's not just the Catholics who try to impose their theology on those of us who don't share it.

Lead stories

Pope Francis called surrogacy 'deplorable' - but the reasons why women and parents choose surrogacy are complex and defy simple labels

The Pope claims he wants surrogacy banned because it can be an abuse of human rights, but he can't divorce this stance from the traditional Catholic philosophy of 'natural law' - "Natural law is a philosophy that states there are certain unchangeable parts of human nature that God endows. Catholic theologians who support this basic view extrapolate that intercourse within heterosexual marriage is the only acceptable way to reproduce, that life begins at conception, and that an embryo has a right to life from conception until natural death."

Yet again, religionists try to impose their theology on those of us who don't share it.

The Search For The Palace Letters

The Search for the Palace Letters is a remarkable documentary that follows the story of Professor Jenny Hocking, the historian who took on an epic legal battle against the Australian Government and HM Queen Elizabeth II in a landmark legal battle – and won.

Other stories of interest

Mike Pence will feature in Scott Morrison's new tell-all book

Pence said he was "a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order." Morrison thought he was a gift from God. Thank god they are gone.

Mike Johnson Isn't Just the Avatar for Christian Nationalism-He's Actually Much Worse Than That

But unfortunately we now have another Mike and this one's even worse... "Christian nationalism, the idea that America should become a theocracy whose leaders determine law and policy based on Christian beliefs."

Got a comment on any of these stories?

Write to me at president@rationalist.com.au