Favorite Lines from Recent South Park

Billy: Do you wanna do it?

Cartman: Do I wanna do it? Does the pope help pedophiles get away with their crime?

Billy: Is that something you would want to do?

Cartman: Is that something I would want to do? Is the pope Catholic...and making the world safe for pedophiles?

Billy: You wouldn't do that. 

Cartman: Does a bear crap in the woods? And does the pope crap on the broken lives and dreams of 200 deaf boys?

Tim Minchin's Pope Song

Stephen Fry Speaks on the Catholic Church

Wow.

And how did Fry and Hitchens do? They kicked ass.

Blaming the Jews for Pedophile Backlash

Item: In Germany, 56% lose trust in Church

Well, good for the Germans.

An opinion poll conducted by the Focus magazine found that 56 percent of the 600 German participants have no confidence in the Church, which has been rocked by an unending stream of sex abuse allegations against priests.

Some 26 percent of the country's Catholic population is now considering quitting the Church, according to the study which is to be published in the magazine on Monday. The respondents said that this is regardless of the consequences of the move on their income tax.

On their INCOME TAX? Huh?

Germany is among a number of European countries that impose Church tax (8-9%) on followers of any religious congregation, unless a member officially quits their communion.

...and the German government gives the income from these taxes to the Church! Got that? The supposedly secular government collects tithes for the church!


Item: Jews blamed for pedophile backlash

An Italian Catholic Web site is claiming that a retired bishop has blamed the Jews for the current backlash against the church over sex abuse claims.

Giacomo Babini, 81, the emeritus bishop of Grosseto, allegedly said in an article on the Pontifex Web site that he believed a “Zionist attack” was behind the criticism of the church, considering how “powerful and refined” the criticism was.

“They do not want the church, they are its natural enemies. Deep down, historically speaking, the Jews are God killers,” he was quoted as saying.

He now denies having said these things.

[Times Online article]

However, Bruno Volpe, who interviewed Monsignor Babini for Pontifex, confirmed that the bishop had made the statement, which was reported widely in the Italian press today. Pontifex threatened to release the audio tape of the interview as proof

Wow. What an asshole.

Other Stuff Catholics Have So Far Blamed for the Church's Pedophilia Scandal:

• The Devil
• Gays
• The Sexual Revolution
• The Media
• Persecution

Unbelievable.

Good Questions for Catholics

Vatican Priest Likens Abuse Furor To Anti-Semitism

Yet another post that is not at all about religion or metaphysics, and not at all funny.

From NPR:

Pope Benedict XVI's personal preacher on Friday likened accusations against the pope and the Catholic church in the sex abuse scandal to "collective violence" suffered by the Jews.

...what? The "collective violence" endured by the world's Jews can largely be traced to the Catholic church's holding Jews collectively responsible for the death of Jesus. It wasn't until the Second Vatican Council (in the 1960s) that the Church decided that maybe this wasn't quite fair.

So, I think that pretty much means that Raniero Cantalamessa (the aforementioned priest making this comparison) and the rest of the Catholic church may have a bit of a screwy idea of what persecution actually IS.

Again, the church isn't under attack. Priests committed horrible crimes against children. The Church systematically and by policy covered it up. Wanting to hold the criminals and those who protected them from justice is not persecution of the church.

To make such a comparison is not only disgusting, but shows how outrageously out of touch the church is with the real world.

Flabbergasted by Reactions to Priest Sexual Abuse

Let's put aside my usual theological complaints for a minute.


Priests.  Raped.  Children.


Their superiors did nothing or covered it up.


Some Catholics are claiming this is an attack against the church.  Nuh-uh.  It is an attack on widespread acceptance of child abuse.

"I'm sad for the priests, for the hierarchy taking so much grief," says 80-year-old Nancy Caruso, who regularly attends Mass in Boston's North End. "I'm sad for the pope. It's happened. Nobody wanted it to happen, but let's move on. Let's not forget the tenets of our religion."

Which tenets of the religion indicate that this should be set aside, Nancy?  You're sad for the priests who raped children or those in the hierarchy who covered it up?  How about being sad for their victims?


In this NPR story, one Catholic student, Mike somebody, says (at 1m44s):

 "...I definitely don't think things should be swept under the rug- at the same time I hope this doesn't turn into another Salem witch hunt."

[blink]


Mike, you must not be much of a student, because your analogy is backwards.  The Salem witch trial are an example of what happens in the ABSENCE of due process and religious extremists are allowed to hold far too much power.  What victims are asking for is due process.


Sister Mary Christine Athans (a professor of Church history) says: 

"We have had FAR more horrendous times in the history of the Church.  Not just the Renaissance,  but other times as well, where the papacy was, you know, in REALLY corrupt state.  So, to suggest that this is equivalent to some of those situations is way out of proportion."

Because the Church has done much WORSE things in times when it had more power and less transparency, this isn't such a big deal?


So, Sister is using a history of atrocities and corruption in the Church to excuse ones which are, today, better hidden.  Shame on her for her appalling moral relativism.  The Church covered up the rape of children.  In what world is that anything less than completely unacceptable?


According to NPR:

Swiss bishops admitted this week that they had underestimated the problem and are now telling victims to consider filing criminal complaints.

..."CONSIDER"?!

In Germany, bishops are considering mandatory or automatic reporting of abuse cases to police

Oh, good.  They're CONSIDERING reporting child rape to the police.

In Italy, bishops ended their annual meeting this week with a vague pledge of cooperation with police.

So...the best they'll do is promise to cooperate with police in cases of child rape?


This isn't about religion.  This is about protecting rapists and child abusers instead of protecting their victims and their potential victims.

Pope Benedict's Commandments

via