There’s been a bit of scandal in the UK over the last week or so regarding a visit of Pope Benedict XVI. There’s a lot to cover from this visit, so I thought I’d summarise it as best as I can and bring up some of the talking points.
State Visit
As pointed out in the open letter to UK paper The Guardian, much of the opposition to the Pope’s visit is the way it has been funded. The Pope was invited by Queen Elizabeth II as a head of state, thus rendering the visit an official “State Visit”. This means that the UK taxpayer picking up the tab for large portions of the visit. The cost of letting a Pope into your country? In excess of $20 million not including police protection, which would probably run another $10 million. For a country which has more non-cathcolics than Catholics, it seems a bit on the expensive side.
Third World Country
Prior to the visit, one of the Pope’s official advisors, and member of the visiting party Cardinal Walter Kasper, made a statement that the UK was like a “third world country”. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, regardless of how ignorant. But the noble Cardinal went on to clarify…
Cardinal Walter Kasper told German magazine Focus that someone landing at Heathrow airport might think they were in a ‘Third World country’ as there are such a variety of multicultural faces there.
Oh, so he’s not just an idiot, he’s a racist idiot. Such was the backlash that he pulled out of the tour before it started. But of course, this is the Catholic Church, so they can’t just apologize and state that Cardinal Kasper is pulling out of the tour to prevent any offence, no, instead they are claiming illness. but once again, public relations aren’t their strong point, so the illness that they chose was gout.
Affecting around 1–2% of the Western population at some point in their lives, gout has increased in frequency in recent decades. This is believed to be due to increasing risk factors in the population such as metabolic syndrome, longer life expectancy, and changes in diet. Gout was historically known as “the disease of kings” or “rich man’s disease”.
I’m sure the starving Catholics in third world countries who are dying of AIDS, and spreading AIDS because this Pope has forbidden the use of condoms have real sympathy for someone suffering the “disease of kings”.
The Pope’s Views
If you’ve read this blog before you’ll no doubt be aware that I find the Catholic Church to be one of the most despicable organisations on the planet. We’ve had the the Church, or representatives thereof, claiming child abuse is linked to homosexuality, abusive clergymen weren’t technically pedophiles and generally sweeping the problem of child abuse under the carpet. It is not a nice organisation that refuses to face up to its problems whilst simultaneously blaming everyone else for it’s own problems.
The Catholic Church needed a bold leader who would front up to its problems and weed them out. A leader who would change the public image of the Church by being more open, honest, accountable and inclusive. Instead they got Pope Benedict XVI.
His views on contraception and women’s rights are antiquated. His protection of those who abused children is disgusting. His demonisation of homosexuality appalling. This does not make him popular in relatively liberal developed countries, such as the UK.
His Speech
Given the controversy of the visit for the points noted above, the Pope (or his advisors assuming he is not the one who writes his own speeches) chose to court yet more controversy. In his opening speech he decided to associate atheism with the Nazi party.
Even in our own lifetime, we can recall how Britain and her leaders stood against a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society and denied our common humanity to many, especially the Jews, who were thought unfit to live. I also recall the regime’s attitude to Christian pastors and religious who spoke the truth in love, opposed the Nazis and paid for that opposition with their lives. As we reflect on the sobering lessons of the atheist extremism of the twentieth century, let us never forget how the exclusion of God, religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately to a truncated vision of man and of society and thus to a “reductive vision of the person and his destiny”
There are a few things that need to be pointed out in response to this ridiculous gibberish.
Firstly, perhaps we should consider that this isn’t an insult at all. After all, he was in the Hitler Youth and later served as an anti-aircraft gunner in the German army during WWII. He knows Nazis, and maybe he liked them. He may have been comparing us to people he likes.
Furthermore, I’d like to refer you to this:
Today they say that Christianity is in danger, that the Catholic faith is threatened. My reply to them is: for the time being, Christians and not international atheists are now standing at Germany’s fore. I am not merely talking about Christianity; I confess that I will never ally myself with the parties which aim to destroy Christianity. Fourteen years they have gone arm in arm with atheism. At no time was greater damage ever done to Christianity than in those years when the Christian parties ruled side by side with those who denied the very existence of God. Germany’s entire cultural life was shattered and contaminated in this period. It shall be our task to burn out these manifestations of degeneracy in literature, theater, schools, and the press—that is, in our entire culture—and to eliminate the poison which has been permeating every facet of our lives for these past fourteen years.
A reasonable person might draw some similarities between the views of Pope Benedict XVI and the speech above. So who is this person that seems to share the Pope’s views? Why it’s everyone’s favourite Nazi, Adolf Hitler.
So what other pearls of wisdom did the Pope have to pass on?
As we reflect on the sobering lessons of atheist extremism of the 20th century, let us never forget how the exclusion of God, religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately to a truncated vision of man and of society and thus a reductive vision of a person and his destiny.
What are the “sobering lessons of atheist extremism”? Let’s take a stab at them, shall we?
- Don’t put people who are ordered to suppress their sexuality in charge of minors and entrust them with their care.
- Allow the use of condoms because they prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS and HIV. Emphasise this especially in poorer countries where good healthcare is not available.
- Don’t oppress women.
- Don’t oppress homosexuals.
Ah, I see the problem there. Those are the lessons we’ve learned from the actions of the Catholic Church, not atheist extremism. The problem being that the Catholic Church has not learned these lessons, and probably never will.
The Demonstrations
Sir Ian McKellen at the protest
As I write this there are reports coming in of more than 10,000 people peacefully protesting against the Pope’s visit in London.
What’s interesting about this protest is the wide range of communities it has pulled together. In many ways, this is one of the great benefits of the Pope’s visit. There are secularists, gay rights activists, women’s rights activists, people campaigning for justice on the issue of child abuse and even Catholics who are opposed to the direction in which their church is heading.
But of course, despite all the negative media coverage world wide, the criticizm from all corners and now a major protest, the catholic Church still thinks the Pope has been “well received”.
That level of ignorance is so out of character for the Church and its leaders I’m shocked.
Statism is a religion that I simply do not practice. I obey because I’m under threat of violence to accept the tenants of a religion, the beliefs of which I simply do not share. I have no faith in this man-made religion known as Statism.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| March to Keep Fear Alive | ||||
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Well, it’s official. Politicians finally have so little respect for intellect they’ve framed a political ad in the most insulting way possible: As a movie…(wait for it)…of a fairy tale.
Even the stupidest among us can see what this ad wants you to see. Democrats are witches, Republicans are somewhere, over the rainbow, waiting to take you home. I mean, they still got a few attacks on Pelosi’s character and they’re really driving the tea party rhetoric home. You could play drinking games with the buzz word codes they hit on in here. And don’t call me too sensitive if I call sexism on having Dorothy say “I don’t care about political parties…”. What they’re appealing to exposes exactly what they think of women: ‘Don’t worry ya stupid broad, just cast a vote for the Republican and all your problems will go away. Don’t overwork your precious little brain on learning about who impacts your world when you could be baking me a pie.’ It’s almost as if they’re saying: No need to look behind that curtain!
P.S. What the fuck was with Hank Paulson cast as the wizard? Doesn’t that suggest that sticking with Paulson is the way to get home? It is eventually the wizard that helps them all, right? Despite the deception, he actually does get them what they want, in a way. I’m confused.
A man who was a staff graduate assistant at Bob Jones University is accused of sex crimes against a child. LinkWhat is it with these idiot pedophiles? If there is no difference between the behavior of the general population and Christians then I see no reason to believe. It's especially bad when it seems sex crimes are more prevalent in the church. Christian, do you understand this?
Hat Tip: Harry McCall, an alumnus of BJU.
When the humanity started its journey of scientific developments, there was complete darkness about nature of things but people had a will to know about everything logically. Science had no instant answer to their curiosity. This was taken advantage of by some cunning people and they introduced concept of faith rather than the logic. Through faith they introduced the concept of God and its derivative - religion.
Every truth is unique while its corresponding falsehoods may be infinite in number and variations. Therefore, unanimity is the ultimate test for a truth. Whole humanity ultimately comes to unanimity on every truth but the falsehoods divide the people in accordance with their varied perceptions. Since, concept of religion was a false perception, no unanimity was ever achieved on this issue giving rise to multiple religions. Each of the religions guiding people to have faith in different perceptions of God and religions and misusing this faith to misguide them.
Logically speaking, science at any stage may not be the complete truth but surely it promotes truth. Therefore, promotion of science amounts to promotion of humanism. Conversely, religions preserve falsehoods and thus are anti-humanity.
The only support to religions is derived from the fact that majority of the people are not of scientific orientation as it needs a particular type of education and training. So, they are inclined towards religions which does not need any particular type of education or training to them. This argument gets countered by the fact that religions have divided the society leading to violent confrontations. Even the world's longest war was fought for religious reasons between followers of Christianity and those of Islam Thus, popularity of religions brings disgrace to humanity.
In support of science, we have many arguments -
- Advances in human civilization are resulted by scientific developments while many religious developments bring humanity to shame through fanaticism.
- For living comforts, conveniences, and pleasures, even the greatest of theists depend on scientific development, to the extent that even promotion of religions is done using scientific gadgets. Thus, understanding of science may be by a minority, its application touches on and all.
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
after all I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
after all I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
after all I was not a trade unionist.
[When they came for the Jews and the Romani
I did not speak out;
after all I was not a Jew or a Roma]
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
Pastor Martin Niemöller (with additional verse by me)
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From "Pale Blue Dot"
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| Earth is a bright pixel when photographed from "Voyager 1" six billion kilometres out (past Pluto). |
The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light.
Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity — in all this vastness — there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves…… It is up to us. It’s been said that astronomy is a humbling, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.
The late, great Carl Sagan. (November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996)
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"All that is necessary for the triumph of bad people is that good people do nothing.
(with apologies to Edmund Burke)
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No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manner of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
John Donne 1624
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Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Philippians 4:8
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Dear fellow-unbelievers,
Nothing would have kept me from joining you except the loss of my voice (at least my speaking voice) which in turn is due to a long argument I am currently having with the specter of death. Nobody ever wins this argument, though there are some solid points to be made while the discussion goes on. I have found, as the enemy becomes more familiar, that all the special pleading for salvation, redemption and supernatural deliverance appears even more hollow and artificial to me than it did before. I hope to help defend and pass on the lessons of this for many years to come, but for now I have found my trust better placed in two things: the skill and principle of advanced medical science, and the comradeship of innumerable friends and family, all of them immune to the false consolations of religion. It is these forces among others which will speed the day when humanity emancipates itself from the mind-forged manacles of servility and superstitition. It is our innate solidarity, and not some despotism of the sky, which is the source of our morality and our sense of decency.
That essential sense of decency is outraged every day. Our theocratic enemy is in plain view. Protean in form, it extends from the overt menace of nuclear-armed mullahs to the insidious campaigns to have stultifying pseudo-science taught in American schools. But in the past few years, there have been heartening signs of a genuine and spontaneous resistance to this sinister nonsense: a resistance which repudiates the right of bullies and tyrants to make the absurd claim that they have god on their side. To have had a small part in this resistance has been the greatest honor of my lifetime: the pattern and original of all dictatorship is the surrender of reason to absolutism and the abandonment of critical, objective inquiry. The cheap name for this lethal delusion is religion, and we must learn new ways of combating it in the public sphere, just as we have learned to free ourselves of it in private.
Our weapons are the ironic mind against the literal: the open mind against the credulous; the courageous pursuit of truth against the fearful and abject forces who would set limits to investigation (and who stupidly claim that we already have all the truth we need). Perhaps above all, we affirm life over the cults of death and human sacrifice and are afraid, not of inevitable death, but rather of a human life that is cramped and distorted by the pathetic need to offer mindless adulation, or the dismal belief that the laws of nature respond to wailings and incantations.
As the heirs of a secular revolution, American atheists have a special responsibility to defend and uphold the Constitution that patrols the boundary between Church and State. This, too, is an honor and a privilege. Believe me when I say that I am present with you, even if not corporeally (and only metaphorically in spirit...)
Resolve to build up Mr Jefferson's wall of separation. And don't keep the faith.
Sincerely
Christopher Hitchens
