If the Catholic Church was a political party or an energy company it would have been broken up and dissolved years ago. After such institutionalised abuse of children in its care and the subsequent systemic cover up spanning many decades, no organisation should be able to survive; and yet it does. How is it that this organisation even continues to lecture the wider world on morality, how can it assume the ethical high ground and why do so many people suck up its propaganda without question, is this what is meant by blind faith?
We now have the spectre of Tony Blair, that great Catholic convert and promoter of "faith" running for the presidency of the European Union. A man who popularised the idea of "spin" in the pocket of an organisation that only thrives because of blind faith...
What could possibly go wrong?
4 comments:
I think you're right on, Steve - we hear so much about religious people stealing, abusing, misappropriating that it's just become so completely ordinary and no one notices or cares.
It continues on in spite of all of this due to heavily entrenched denial. Do these people so badly crave an authority figure to tell them how to behave that in the end they're willing to take moral advice from someone who gets his rocks off by looking at photos of naked children? These reports just go on and on and on, and it looks very much like people simply don't care. Which I would have thought would have been impossible.
Lisa, I think that's right, it's sad but people just don't seem to care, otherwise something would be done.
The response I always seem to get when I mention things like this to believers is "oh yes, its awful, but look at all the good the Church does" - as if that makes it all OK.
I wonder what Jesus would do? :)
I was thinking about how they always use the argument that priests are just men. I love that one since they get to be both godly and flawed, so basically you can't criticise them at all and they can pull moral rank when needed, and demand sympathy and understanding when desired.
I forgot about the claim that the church does loads of good! I wonder if anyone has ever tried that tactic in the criminal courts, or if the people who forward this argument think that it should.
Hey, where's the religious commensurability chart (do people like us get to see it)? I am curious to see precisely how much good the church has to do in order to offset the molestation of one child, or the embezzlement of church contributions by a church official. I want to have a look at the balance sheet, too, whilst they're at it.
Lisa, quite, "just men" on the one hand and "infallible moral leaders" on the other, cognitive dissonance or what!
I say sue them back to the stone age, oh I forgot, they never left :)
Post a Comment