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"When Thog pick nit, nit know it have been picked!
Over on Wikipedia-L, people are discussing what an appropriate neutral-point-of-view (NPOV, one of our basic guidelines) label for the Chinese government is. All well and good, until someone stated as fact that China and the Roman Catholic Church are authoritarian, and when challenged, said "not a lot of elections held in the Catholic Church".
At this point, I couldn't resist a factual correction (okay, a bit snarky in phrasing), so I asked him how he thought they pick popes, and added that in polisci jargon, the church (and, more to the point here, Vatican City) is an elective monarchy.
Then I started taking the rest of his post apart, ending with a response to his assertion that the US and the Catholic Church are different:
I will now see if anyone reads carelessly enough to assume that I'm defending the church because I'm part of it (I'm not any kind of Christian).
Over on Wikipedia-L, people are discussing what an appropriate neutral-point-of-view (NPOV, one of our basic guidelines) label for the Chinese government is. All well and good, until someone stated as fact that China and the Roman Catholic Church are authoritarian, and when challenged, said "not a lot of elections held in the Catholic Church".
At this point, I couldn't resist a factual correction (okay, a bit snarky in phrasing), so I asked him how he thought they pick popes, and added that in polisci jargon, the church (and, more to the point here, Vatican City) is an elective monarchy.
Then I started taking the rest of his post apart, ending with a response to his assertion that the US and the Catholic Church are different:
If George Bush decides I am a threat to US security, I can be imprisoned indefinitely without trial. If Karol Wojtyla decides I am a threat to the Catholic Church, he can say so publicly, and I can go about my normal occasions. Yes, the situation differs markedly, but maybe not in the way you're trying to suggest.
I will now see if anyone reads carelessly enough to assume that I'm defending the church because I'm part of it (I'm not any kind of Christian).