There has been a lot to talk about. Many Catholic blogs, including those I link to, talk about them often. Mark Shea’s Catholic and Enjoying It! has had many ongoing discussions about whether the war in Iraq met the Church’s Just War criteria. A new common topic is about torture, what it is and whether it is permissible.

Here is the latest on that to get a flavor of what’s going on there.

I hesitated to link to the post for a couple of reasons. First, I think Mark has gotten way too snarky since he came back from his book writing hiatus on some things, especially this. I’ve added a comment or two now and then but not being a regular poster, I think it gets lost in the discussion. Second, I don’t necessarily want to drag the animosity over here. It gets nasty there at times.

That’s why I bring this up. I hate to see this sort of thing go happen on blogs I like to read. I certainly understand that there are differing opinions on what is and isn’t torture. Not to mention what is and isn’t a Just War and whether one can disagree with a Pope on a particular case. What I don’t get is the automatic consignment of those who hold differing opinions to the worst possible categories of supporters of evil… torturers or terrorists depending on your point of view.

Anyway, knowing some of the other Maniacs are likely to disagree on this subject for various reasons, I am hoping to generate a more calm discussion over here.

Please note to potential commenters that I will not tolerate any of the name calling and ad hominem attacks that I have seen go on at other blogs. I can and will delete comments that cross a line. If you don’t know for sure if you are crossing the line, you probably are.

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