Flush

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

CONTEXT!

Epicurus

If God is willing to prevent evil, but is not able to
Then He is not omnipotent.

If He is able, but not willing
Then He is malevolent.

If He is both able and willing
Then whence cometh evil?

If He is neither able nor willing
Then why call Him God?

-Epicurus, as translated by David Hume

Nice illustration:

Dividing by Zero

Campus atheists offer free porn in exchange for Bibles

"Smut for smut." I love it.

More here

Richard Pryor

God Told Me to Tell You

 This comic rules.

Occam's Razor and Death

Oral Roberts is Dead

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20091215/oru-founder-hospitalized-after-fall/

In January 1987, during a fundraising drive, Roberts announced to a television audience that unless he raised $8 million by that March, God would "call him home" (a euphemism for death).^[12][13] Some were fearful that he was referring to suicide given the passionate pleas and tears that accompanied his statement. He raised $9.1 million.^[14]

[Source: Wikipedia]

Arlo Guthrie responded: "I firmly believe we shouldn't negotiate with any terrorist on any level."

Good riddance to bad rubbish.  If only there was a Hell in which con-men and charlatans like Roberts could suffer for preying on the weak-minded, desperate, and gullible. 

I used to think *I* was cynical.  If he actually believed in hell, he wouldn't have fleeced so damned many people.

My New Hero: Anne Druyan

If you like, you can skip up to Anne's response to the remarks of a person of faith on "the unknown" at 3m55s

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson on Religion in Schools

New York Times

December 21, 2006

To the Editor:

People cited violation of the First Amendment when a New Jersey schoolteacher asserted that evolution and the Big Bang are not scientific and that Noah's ark carried dinosaurs.

This case is not about the need to separate church and state; it's about the need to separate ignorant, scientifically illiterate people from the ranks of teachers.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

New York, Dec. 19, 2006

http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/category/opus/commentary?page=2