Well, Jack, there are two strands going on in this thread, that's the trouble. It's what you get for mentioning religion in ANY context. ;-) 'Twas ever thus. It's Mudcat Bullshit Section, not the Oxford Union! As for the Catholic rank and file, the vast majority don't go to Mass or are notional Catholics only. Most of them use contraception and the more articulate can get abortions without too much fuss. They don't feel too hard done by, and they have their insurance, so there's not enough back pressure to cause a groundswell, I'm afraid. As a baptised Catholic myself, I'm doubtless still included in their proud statistics. Think of how the Tories get in by keeping the middle class happy. The Catholics who suffer most are the ones who are the poorest and least organised. It's a bit like expecting a boatload of shackled slaves to end slavery. The articulate Catholics are the Joes of this world who go along with diplomacy and collaboration. That will change nothing in a month of Sundays.


Stu, "unknowable" is defeatist. I think a better phrase would be "so-far unknown." That's pragmatic. Unknowable things can never be known, by the very definition of the word. Unknowable things are commonly things invented by rather fertile human imaginations which like to put things safely beyond scientific enquiry.