Randy Cassingham's Blog

Posted by Matt, New Zealand on September 11, 2009:

My take on this is that the angry premium subscriber is likely to be catholic and is simply a hater for anyone who speaks out against, or mentions their religion without what they deem to be the proper reverence.

Yet I find it interesting how chances are (and I'm speculating here) that they would have no problem at all telling you how you should refrain from using birth control and avoid having an abortion even if the baby is from rape or likely to harm the mother.

No one like the religious to practise double standards!

Posted by Carter - Altanta, GA on September 11, 2009:

My only thoughts are - You can please some of the people all the time, but not all the people all the time.

As with the healthcare debate, pleasing everyone is NOT possible and thus - Thank Marty for his response, it is a free country where we can say what we want, even if others do not agree and now let us move on.

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And to be sure, I do thank Marty: he provided me a platform to point out that the story helps people understand Catholics, rather than (as he seems to believe) create more distance. It's his reaction that creates the distance. -rc

Posted by Colleen,Bound Brook NJ on September 11, 2009:

Prayer before and after marital relations is an extremely ancient Judeo-Christian tradition, dating back to the Psalm of Psalms/Song of Songs/Song of Solomon. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong (TRUE readers are helpful that way...), I believe it's a long-standing Jewish tradition to pray this Psalm as spouses before and during relations on the Sabbath. The imagery is quite evocative.

Who is to say what the many people who invoke the name of the Almighty ("Oh God!, Oh, God!...) during the act actually mean by doing so? I know I'M praying, for one reason or another. I'd like to get a copy of the book mentioned in the story, or one like it. All I have to say to Marty is "Try it, you might actually like it!" Beyond that I'm going to practice my Catholic faith and refrain from berating other adults from using their God-given Free Will!

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I did check Amazon U.S. for the book, and they don't have it -- it shows "Out of Print". You may be able to get it through the Society; I don't know if they ship to the U.S., but you can find ordering info via the link I provided. -rc

Posted by Allen, Arizona on September 11, 2009:

I'd actually like to address a part of Marty's complaint that you didn't: "it is an obvious, kneejerk response that would occur to many people looking for a cheap shot."

By "it" I presume, just as you did, that Marty is referring to your tagline. I saw Conan O'Brien report on the same story on The Tonight Show. O'Brien is a well-paid comedian who spends a lot of his time doing what you do: commenting on the news. Unlike you, he has a large, full-time staff of professional writers. If your joke on the story is "obvious" you can rest assured that neither Conan nor his staff thought of it. And, in fact, your joke was better!

Posted by Adam, Madison, WI on September 11, 2009:

I can only imagine that his problem was from your tag line. As a Catholic myself, we're not suppose to have sex until after marriage, and we should be very open to life and be pro-life. To say all Catholic girls you know say a prayer after sex implies that whether they use birth control or not, there's probably some promiscuity going on (unless already faithfully married), and they are praying to not have gotten pregnant although they need to be open to the idea of life. As for my opinion, I wouldn't say it is funny, but in terms of my religion a sad reality. I wouldn't want my religion and what people in my religion do to be made fun of and to have jokes made against them, so I would personally restrain from joking about people in other religions, but you outlined a sad fact in our faith today.

Posted by Walter, Florida on September 11, 2009:

Just a few words: "He has a problem".

Posted by Gordon - Australia on September 11, 2009:

Strange - all the girls I know pray during sex. At least that's what I think they are doing when the start calling out Oh! God.

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I figured someone would post that sooner rather than later! May as well get it over with. :-) -rc

Posted by Greg in Seattle on September 11, 2009:

You lie! ;-)

I think his response is to your tagline which seems to imply that Catholic "girls" as a group are promiscuous and use prayer as form of birth control. I can see where certain Catholic men, especially fathers of "good" girls, might find your tagline crude, cheap, and false.

OTOH, teenagers are notoriously rebellious and careless, and you'll find a LOT of adults who claim that the rebelling against the stricture of Catholicism is directly related to their wild youth. To claim that your tagline doesn't stand up in his experience might be one thing, but I'm sure we can find a large collection of Catholic boys and girls to whom it applies.

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Thank you Joe Wilson! Funny, but even with his complaint it never occurred to me that my tagline could imply that Catholic girls are more promiscuous than anyone else. I don't think that, and thus the tagline certainly doesn't imply that, though I agree that an especially paranoid father might think that. And that's the truth, Congressman! -rc

Posted by Silvy, Virginia on September 11, 2009:

As soon as I read your tag line I thought you were going to get some heat for it for sure. Of course, you knew it too.

I was born and raised catholic and I thought it was funny as hell! HA!

You haven't managed to offend me yet in all the years I have been reading TRUE, and frankly I don't think you will ever. I track with you all the way. I just hope that makes me almost as smart as you!

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Yes, I obviously did know the tagline would "challenge" some people, though I thought we were past the kneejerk reaction phase of TRUE's early years. I'm glad you were smart enough to see the humor, and thoughtful enough to enjoy it. -rc

Posted by Pat in San Jose on September 11, 2009:

As a practicing Catholic, i.e., I go to church on Sundays, I study my religion's tenets, and I actively question my behavior and beliefs as I go through life, I get mildly offended by 'Catholic girl' jokes (Billy Joel's Only the good die young for example). How about substituting 'Muslim' or 'Methodist', or 'Atheist' for Catholic, and see what you get for responses? In fact, the heck with the minimal humor involved in this story, why not tweak as many people as you can? Oh, wait: I forgot. You do that already. Never mind.

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Would I have done the story the same way if it had been a Methodist publisher instead? You bet. The same if it was atheists? Well, I have a hard time believing an atheist press would release a prayer book, but indeed I have made jokes about atheists, pagans, and others -- just as you concluded. -rc