I know this is just going to drag on a controversy that I’m already tired of, but it’s too good of an argument to pass up. A journal by somebody named Phillup has a link to an article about the Vatican taking a “moral stand” against same-sex marriage in Spain. This quote itself is actually from a Times Online article.

“On the contrary, precisely because they are iniquitous the Church makes an urgent call for freedom of conscience and the duty to oppose.

“A law as profoundly iniquitous as this one is not an obligation, it cannot be an obligation. One cannot say that a law is right simply because it is law.”

He called on municipal officials asked to perform gay marriages to object on grounds of conscience and to refuse to go through with the ceremony, even if it meant losing their jobs.

He said: “They should exercise the same conscientious objection asked of doctors and nurses against a crime such as abortion.

“This is not a matter of choice: all Christians… must be prepared to pay the highest price, including the loss of a job.”

Since when is “the highest price” your job? That’s retarded. Anyway, this “duty to oppose” argument of course doesn’t apply to a young Ratzinger’s joining the Hitler Youth or the Nazi army though. Because we’ve been told by his supporters that resistance to Hitler was “impossible”. Even though this doesn’t hold up with some who experienced those times differently.

Some locals in Traunstein, like Elizabeth Lohner, 84, whose brother-in-law was sent to Dachau as a conscientious objector, dismiss such suggestions. “It was possible to resist, and those people set an example for others,” she said.

Baited arguments aside - I think the whole Nazi-Pope debate boils down to one simple question: what would you have done in Ratzinger’s situation? If you were a member of a warlike empire committing atrocities at home and abroad, and they “forced” you into service - what would you do about it? Would you put your tail between your legs and follow orders because it was “mandatory” or would you be “prepared to pay the highest price” as the Vatican official above suggests? My bet is your answer to that question will inevitably color your impression of what Ratzinger did (or didn’t do). I know it does for me. Hopefully we won’t have to answer this question any more than hypothetically very soon, but the way things are going in our own little empire, doesn’t look like we’ll be able to hold out much longer before we make that decision.