re: #2 Dark_Falcon

That’s really uncalled for, Jimmah. The fact that the Vatican is appointing people who aren’t European and (mostly) aren’t white is a sign of diversification and adaptation. When you go after others for doing the right thing you come across looking like a jerk.

In Jimmah’s defense, I’ve not known him to be a racist or a bigot, so I don’t think his reference to “new pools of ignorance” had anything to do with ethnicity (though I can see how it could easily be interpreted that way)—most likely it’s a reference to their religious belief. I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt and withhold down-dinging on that point unless he indicates that he meant otherwise.

That doesn’t mean I like the way he worded it. I don’t. I think it’s unnecessarily caustic & offensive (which tends to shut down rational conversation and provoke emotional reactions), but then he’s not exactly known for his subtlety (heh) and I am the way I am, so we’re naturally gonna rub each other the wrong way occasionally.