Re: Revisionist Posting sorry, I only live here. I don't have the benefit of your ignorance on the subject.
Re: Revisionist Posting Are you trying to imply that Northern Ireland is not part of the United Kingdom, or that being Catholic or Protestant is irrelevant in Northern Ireland?
Re: Revisionist Posting I'm telling you that it's only an issue for bigots. Most, even in Northern Ireland, aren't fussed about the religion side of the issue there. It's not the differing religious beliefs that caused the troubles. The UVF aren't incensed about ornate decoration in catholic churches, and never shot anyone for the use of rosary-beads. The IRA didn't form because they were outraged by the use of contraception and dismissal of Papal authority. essentially you either believe that people here lump all christians together as one religion, or you believe it's an evil plot to pretend catholics don't exist here.
Re: Revisionist Posting It still makes your country a bigoted one, especially as your national anthem is "God Save the Catholic-Hater".
Re: Revisionist Posting Strange. I always thought the US was 5-8 hours behind GMT. With these opinions, I think I'll have to set my watch back 200 years next time I pop over instead.
Not an awful lot wrong here except remember that the explanation is for kids. It is not an in-depth analysis of the events surrounding and preceding September 11th. I would hazard a guess that the BBC operates under the KISS* maxim when writing/broadcasting for kids. *Keep It Simple, Stupid.
Re: Revisionist Posting You're right, it's no big deal. It's only official government policy that the head of state can't be a Catholic, and can't even marry one. Why should anyone see a big deal with that?
Re: Revisionist Posting it's the equivalent of those laws you get in Arkansas saying you can be arrested for whistling on a Tuesday, that someone thought was relevent 150 years ago. First time it becomes relevant, it vanishes. But hey, I guess if I came from a catholic family * I'd no doubt feel different. * subtlety is not always my strong point.
Re: Revisionist Posting Me neither, so I'll just say, um, no it's not. It's not even close to the same thing. Funny, I knew about the succession law off the top of my head. Why would that be? Just admit that it's an indefensible, bigoted law, and move on. I don't hold you accountable for all the laws in the UK, especially ones passed long before your birth.
The thread title is somewhat misleading...The original title is "Why did they do it ?" The short text does refer to their motivations, not the overall reasons of why 9/11 happened.
9/11 happened because bad people flew planes into buildings. It's the why they did it that's most interesting to me.
That was just in one school, Alex. As wrong as it was for that school to drop that subject, that article presents it as it is true for most British schools. If you read the actual report, you'll see that there was just the one school that had dropped the Holocaust from its history lessons. There were a few others where teaching about the Holocaust had caused some troubles with part of the Muslim students, but none of those schools dropped it from their curriculum.
Or Iraqi WMD's .... ker-yuck-yuck. As to the succession laws, I don't think it's bigoted at all, what with all Catholics being paedophiles. Wait ... did I say that out loud? Gosh, us Brits, eh?
Re: Revisionist Posting because you have an axe to grind and still live under the absurd belief that catholics are some kind of pursecuted minority. I mean, really, do you genuinely believe the royal family hates catholics? it certainly is such a law, but it's a few hundred years old and wouldn't last 5 minutes if it actually had any significance. It's never been an issue because royals tend to only marry into aristocracy, and it's hard to be a member of the aristocracy without having a family tree you can colour in. If Prince William, for example, wanted to marry a catholic, he would, and he wouldn't lose his place in line. It a stupid rule that's long ceased to be relevant. The ruling would be scrapped, probably due to the same sort of public opinion which had the royal standard being flown at half-mast after diana's death.
Re: Revisionist Posting Because of the Glorious Revolution. Its a historical sidenote. Same reason you've probably heared of Guy Fawkes. I highly doubt that means there are Catholics ready to blow up Parliament. England has had the longest continuous government of any democracy I can think of, which makes outdated laws that no one has bothered to get rid of almost inevitable. Besides, who gives a shit about the royal family in the UK anyway?
I have it, on good authority, that 9/11 was actually masterminded by catholics, those bastards, I hate catholics.
This thread has taken a little bit of a turn so I'm not sure my story's relevant anymore. Anyways, for the how-not-to-do-it section, yesterday my 4-year old came home from Pre-K -- PRE-K!!!!! -- and started telling us that strangers will kill you with airplanes.
Re: Revisionist Posting I've got to admit that I never knew about these laws. I always assumed that the King or Queen could not be Catholic because they are officially the head of the church of England, no? Even if I am mistaken here, the fact that England HAS an official church suggests that the King or Queen would be a member of that church. The law banning a monarch from marrying a Catholic is indeed silly and outdated. I agree with Richard that it would last all of 10 seconds if William wanted to marry a Catholic. Still, I don't see a reason to wait until it becomes an issue to change it. I would have thought it would have been a nice, symbolic (if substantively meaningless) gesture at the time they were establishing the joint government in Northern Ireland. Oh well, come on William! Find yourself a good Catholic girl. Oh my God. What if she's Irish to boot?
It is really, REALLY hard to break down difficult subjects for young kids. They will basically take out of it what they want. If anyone without kids doubts me, as quick as you can think of a response to a four year old to the following question . . . . . . . "Daddy, what's an erection lasting more than four hours?"
"It's something old men can get, like the hiccups." One week later.... "Grandma, can I have a glass of water?" "Sure, are you thirsty?" "No, it's for grampa. He has an erection."
Re: Revisionist Posting I don't know about the UK, but most of the British community in Argentina has an obsession with the royal family. Show them a picture of the queen and they will get an orgasm. (Trust me, I know, there are some of those in my mother's side of the family.) And of course they should not be allowed to marry a catholic. Just imagine, odds are if somebody is catholic, they probably have Irish blood. And who wants the king of the UK to be Irish?