In touch with 1505

Okay, so these comments will either put the final nail in the coffin that condemns me to hell and/or will get me excommunicated. (Interestingly enough, I actually prayed before moving forward with this post.) Anyway, I'm just going to point out a few things that cause me growing concern about the Catholic Church and how it's not so much in touch with 2005 as with 1505.

Fall of 2004--many Catholic bishops and priests used the pulpit to tell their flocks that to vote for an elected official who may have a pro-choice stance is to put one's immortal soul in danger. Loosley translated: voting Democrat (many of whom are pro-choice) will send you to hell. My question: wouldn't voting for a Republican (all of whom are supportive of the war in Iraq, which has been called "immoral" and "a defeat for humanity" by Pope John Paul II) essentially be bad too?

Spring of 2005--the whole Terri Shaivo issue involved "playing God' -- if you supported the removal of the feeding tube from the (now recently re-confirmed via autopsy) brain dead accident victim, you were playing God and supporting not the liberation of a soul from a brain dead body, but the killing of an supposedly still sentient young woman. My question: wasn't it playing God by inserting the feeding tube in the first place? Many Catholic priests and bishops used their pulpit to condemn the husband as an evil killer who, by the way, was also committing adultery because he had moved on and remarried. Even people lost at sea are considered dead after 7 years, aren't they?

Spring of 2005--the selection of German cardinal Josef Ratzinger as Pope, Pope Benedict XVI. Pope Benedict has called homosexuality an “intrinsic moral evil”; has described the movement toward equality for women “radical feminism”; and has denounced rock music (specifically by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, the Eagles, and Queen) as an "instrument of the Devil" because it "endangers the human soul." And according to David Gibson, a former Vatican Radio journalist and author of a book on trends in the church, “[Ratzinger] has said himself that he wanted a smaller, but purer, church.” My question: isn't the message of Jesus about forgiveness and acceptance? And while he didn't necessarily condone their activities, didn't Jesus associate with lepers, prostitutes, and tax collectors (the homosexuals, feminists, and rock musicians of his time) forgiving them their sins and accepting them as human beings? And let's not even go to the place where we discuss purity and groups of people deemed unpure...

If you read this blog, even only occasionally, you know that I worry about the fearmongering that is going on by our elected officials, the rise in influence of the judgemental religious right, the erosion of the separation of church and state, and the dumbing down of America in general. These are the same conditions that brought about the Dark Ages. A few demagogues took control of the church and set back science and humanity hundreds of years. Demagogue: one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots. (thanks for that definition H.L. Menchen)

If those people were still in control, we'd still believe the earth was flat, the sun revolved around the earth, diseases we caused by demons or some sin your parents or grandparents committed, women were inferior and were to serve only as baby incubators, homos were to be stoned, and the only acceptable music was by church choirs. Wait... Re-read those last three again? My point exactly.

Personally, I don't believe God cares that much if you're a man or woman, who you sleep with as long as it's consensual, or what music you listen to, as long as you try to make the world a little better, try to give to those who are less fortunate, and try not to judge others. What was that phrase... "Judge not, lest ye be judged?"

By the way, I've always wondered just what the Catholic church could accomplish in the world if it melted down all the gilded chalices and golden cruicifixes (adopting humble glass cups and wooden crosses in their stead) and cashed that all in, along with all the jewels, art, extra land and other material-world stuff and just fed, clothed and educated people--and stayed out of the political arena...