Further adventures in abusing the notion of respect

Previously I wrote about how it’s incorrect to say that you respect women if that respect is contingent on their dressing and behaving according to your notions of modesty.

It’s also incorrect to say that you respect people while maintaining that for them to have children is “child abuse”:

Francis is still a conservative choice, but has taught the ‘importance of respecting gay individuals’. However he strongly opposed same-sex marriage legislation introduced in 2010 by the Argentine government, calling it a ‘destructive attack on God’s plan’. In a letter to the monasteries of Buenos Aires, he wrote: ‘Let’s not be naive, we’re not talking about a simple political battle; it is a destructive pretension against the plan of God. ‘We are not talking about a mere bill, but rather a machination of the Father of Lies that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God.’ In the past, he has also called the adoption of gay couples child abuse, saying it was discrimination against children.

You know what’s really child abuse? Child abuse. The kind which has been covered up and gone unnoticed and unpunished, time and time again, within the Catholic church. I wonder how many children of gay parents would like to slap the leader of 1.2 billion Catholics for asserting that the existence of their family unit is equivalent to an actual crime committed against countless children by people under the auspices of his institution over so many years.

Father of Lies, indeed.