How to view the Irish vote, from American Catholic:

Now that Ireland has voted to approve gay marriage, a few thoughts:

1.   Catholic Ireland is now Anti-Catholic Ireland-The Irish have always found scapegoats useful as an explanation for Irish failings.  Britain long played this role and the Church is now filling this role.  This vote, for many of the voters, was a joyous opportunity to give a one finger salute to the faith of their ancestors.

2.   Spineless Shepherds-With one or two exceptions, the Irish episcopate was worse than useless.  Cowardice was their most notable attribute.  Expecting these timeservers to stand up for Catholicism in a hostile environment is like expecting a wolf to become a vegetarian.

3.   Pope-MIA-The Pope has endless time to waste on made up problems like global warming, and to make snide remarks about faithful Catholics, but he uttered not a word on this vote.  In the current feeble state of the Church in the face of her enemies, the fish does rot from the head down.

4.   No Representation-All the major parties in Ireland backed gay marriage, so the 38% of the Irish people who voted against it, a huge block of voters in a proportional parliamentary system like Ireland, effectively have no political voice.

5.   Iron Triangle-In Ireland government, academia and entertainment were all overwhelmingly in favor of gay marriage.  The group think on this issue makes the old Iron Curtain countries seem diverse in comparison. Continue reading →

Read on for the other five.