Why can’t the Pope do what is right?

Even a casual reader of this blog will know that I’m no friend to organised religion.  I’m an atheist and whilst I can see that organised religion does have its good side, in my opinion, it nowhere near counteracts the harm religion does to society in general.

I’ve been watching the latest and, in my view, the most damaging pedophilia scandal of the Catholic Church and have been biting my tongue.  Sure, I can come up with a few disgusting jokes and very long rants about how evil this organisation is, but to my pleasure, I have seen many hundreds of people doing this already both online and in the mainstream media.  I really haven’t felt an urge to add a blog post of my own on this subject.

That is until I read this fantastic opinion piece called ‘Pope must grovel and beg for our forgiveness’ by Chris Geraghty, who is a former Catholic priest, who has put so succinctly in writing the thoughts that have been stirring in my mind these past few weeks.  Like nearly everyone else, I have been shocked by the Catholic Church’s reaction to this scandal.  It has been so callous and cold that it almost defies belief.  I just can’t understand why the Catholic Church can’t own up to the fact that they have made grievous mistakes in letting these vile priests continue to serve and keep abusing kids.  Why can’t the Pope beg forgiveness from his followers and the rest of the world and bring together a taskforce to prevent this from ever happening again?  It would be naive of me to say that more rules and regulation would completely wipe out paedophilia from the Catholic Church, there will always be sickos in their ranks, just like there are sickos in every single profession, but the Church can make sure that these sick deeds are never covered up and the sicko just quietly moved to another parish.  They can de-frock him and make sure he stands trial for his actions.  Why does the Catholic Church not want to do what is right?

Surely, there must be good men in the Catholic Church who are pushing for this change to occur.  Why are they not speaking out against the Pope?  Why are they not contacting their local media outlets to condemn this shameful turn of events?  Why are they remaining silent on this? (it’s possible I have missed them and if I have, please send links!)

I think that is what saddens me the most about this scandal is that the grassroots members are not doing more to condemn this but instead are upholding the culture of keeping silent.  It’s shameful, it’s wrong and it is not in keeping with their Christian beliefs.

Religious Imbecile Of The Week

This week’s religious imbecile of the week goes to Bishop Porteous and the Sydney Catholic Church for believing so strongly that Harry Potter & Twilight expose young people to ideas about the occult & opens the way for the devil that they are hiring a full-time exorcist. Porteous also believes that Eastern relaxation tips like yoga and tai chi encourage experimentation with ‘deep dark spiritual ideas & traditions’.  That’s right, all those old people doing tai chi to help relieve the pain of arthritis are actually channelling the devil, who knew.

Good to see that the Sydney Catholic Church is keeping the intolerance of cultures different to theirs alive and well in the 21st century.

Religious Imbeciles Of The Week

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Thought I would set up a weekly post highlighting stupid decisions made in the name of religion.  Let me know if enjoy like it.

The inaugural religious imbecile of the week goes to the Saudi Arabian government for making it illegal for women to conduct their lives without a man watching over them.

A Saudi woman has been sentenced to 300 lashes & jailed for 18 months for daring to appear in court without a male guardian and filing complaints against local officials. This because under the strict laws of Islam, women are not supposed to leave the home without a male guardian.  Full story can be found here.  I just find this law repulsive and the fact they are going to whip her for daring to be an independent woman is abhorrant.

However, the Saudi Arbians are not the only ones this week to do something really stupid in the name of religion.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington DC has halted its foster care program and stopped all spousal benefits for all new employees in protest against the DC government legalising same-sex marriage.  Apparently it is way more important to discriminate against gays & lesbians than it is to provide services for the most helpless members of society.  Way to go DC Catholic Church – I hope your god is proud of you.

According to the Pope, gay marriage will endanger the human race

The Pope has taken crazy to a whole new level with his recent statements on gay marriage.  The Pope has been quoted as saying:

Creatures, including humans, “can be protected or endangered”, the Pope, 82, told the Vatican diplomatic corps in a traditional January address focusing mainly on environmental issues.
“One such attack comes from laws or proposals which, in the name of fighting discrimination, strike at the biological basis of the difference between the sexes,” he said, citing “certain countries in Europe or North and South America”..

Really??  Allowing same-sex marriage to occur is going to kill off the human race?  Are you kidding me?

It isn’t like us queers are going around having heterosexual sex and breeding until countries finally enter the 21st century and legally recognise our relationships.  Allowing same-sex relationships to be legally recognised is not going to destroy the human race, but the more people who see the Bible and the Catholic Church as not reflecting the world they live in, the more likely they will be to turn away from the Church.  This is what I think the Pope is really afraid of.

Count me in for bringing the downfall of this irrelevant institution.