bk: That is exactly my point. If we treated the Catholic Church the same way many want to treat Islam, we would have had the National Guard closing all Catholic schools because the country would have been outraged that the Church that protected the hundreds of priests who *raped* thousands upon thousands of children were operating SCHOOLS and CHILDREN'S CAMPS (I went to CYO when I was young).

Prosecute the criminals, not the entire 'label'.

Pats2010: My point was directed at the "majority rules" comment. The "majority" thought segregation was just ducky - in the same way that it was ok to own blacks a century before. It was a big rallying cry that Washington should stay out of local affairs.

And as far as the Civil War is concerned, there's been a big push to try and paint it as more a "states rights" issue instead of a slavery issue. That's true to an extent - but just look at the Confederate Constitution and you'll see that slavery was enshrined into law *and* state's rights were ignored. You HAD to be a slave state to join and you COULD NOT vote to outlaw slavery as a member of the CSA.

And, yes, I know that a lot of people fought and died for the Confederacy on the principal of fighting for their State. But would that be the first time that good men died fighting for a self-contradicting government? Would it be the last?

Now, to try and calm the rising temperature here (and I'm as guilty as any), can you tell me where you're coming from when you ask about how women are treated now? What are you comparing? I'm not baiting you, I'm genuinely interested in what you were thinking.