Happy Ash Wednesday!!
Here we are again, Sinners. Another year, another day where - all day - my inner monologue repeats: "What the hell is on that person's face?" ... You'd think I'd get used to it. I knew the "holiday"? was coming. It happens EVERY YEAR. Still, it never ceases to amaze me that grown men and women take special care to go out into public looking so ridiculous...This brings me to a larger point... WHY ARE THERE STILL CATHOLICS, AGAIN?!
I assume you heard the big news: The Pope, after recognizing that sitting in a golden chair in a palace is probably NOT what Jesus would do, has decided to quit. I think it was because of Sarah Silverman's video here...
Sell the Vatican, Feed the World!
Ok. I lied. I don't think the hypocrisy between the message of modesty that Jesus taught and the garish reality of the Catholic Church is not the reason he's supposed to have quit... But this news makes me wonder (more than I do on most days) -- WHY ARE THERE STILL CATHOLICS, AGAIN?!
The Pope, a guy who literally speaks for God, the leader of the international Catholic Church -- the largest religious group of the largest religious group (Christians) -- and perhaps the oldest institution in the world... THAT guy. He just quit! And for really crappy, vague reasons... I'm just saying, it'd be hard for me to get up for Mass this Sunday.
This brings me to the real crux of the issue here. How can 1.1 Billion people call themselves Catholics?
The Pope, a guy who literally speaks for God, the leader of the international Catholic Church -- the largest religious group of the largest religious group (Christians) -- and perhaps the oldest institution in the world... THAT guy. He just quit! And for really crappy, vague reasons... I'm just saying, it'd be hard for me to get up for Mass this Sunday.
How can ANYONE, in today's society, consider themselves a Catholic and also an ethical citizen?
This is a question that I've openly asked a number of times, with varied results. My conclusion is that I don't know that they can... In fact, I think they cannot.
Or that they do enough good to offset the harm?
I disagree on both counts.
Don't get me wrong. I don't think that 1.1 billion people are ALL intrinsically bad. I think most of them are lying and half-assing it. However, the Catholic Church isn't like any other group and their members don't get the same "benefit of the doubt." Unlike other religions, the heinous, widespread, well-documented and well-known nature of the Church's crimes should prevent ethical adults from calling themselves "Catholic" -- let alone contributing to that institution in any other way.
I understand that this could be considered an extreme view. However, Catholics contribute, through donations, participation or lip-service, to an organization that systemically abuses children -- among other awful things.. Then, they go around bragging about being "Good Catholics," and no one can look at them the wrong way about it. THAT is also pretty extreme.
If ANY other affiliation group was accused of half the things the Church admits, no one would want to call themselves a member of that group. It's only the fear tactic of ex-communication and Hell that make otherwise decent people want to malign themselves with such scumbags. Sure, they can be great people in every other way, but being Catholic is not ethical. Considering the things they do, giving money to them SHOULD be criminal. I acknowledge that we all make mistakes and do unethical things; however, I think fostering this affiliation qualifies as unethical on a level that makes it hard for me "round" that individual up.
Fortunately, I don't think ANYONE (sane & ethical) truly stands for for the finer points of the religion. Richard Dawkins spoke a bit to this idea at Reason Rally last year.
After all, does anyone (sane & ethical) believe:
- The body of Christ is transfigured into a tasteless wafer ?
- Condoms actually increase transmission of STDs ?
- Original Sin was a real event that should inform treatment of women today?
- The Bible (ALL of it) is the inerrant word of God?
-Most tenets listed are modified from Basic Beliefs of Catholicism...for Dummies!
Luckily, the answer to most of these questions (most of the time) is a resounding "NO!"
This brings me full circle to the main question....
Why are there still Catholics, again?!?
If anyone knows, please tell me...
1 comment:
I was raised Catholic, so I should start with a confession: I was one of those people, but probably in the worst way. Because of my theological training I knew more about what the catholic church believes and teaches than the average Joe who just goes along. Even worse though, I didn't believe much of it, and taught CCD (catholic Sunday school) to 10 yr old kids. So I have had a version of the above conversation with my kids, wife etc since coming out as an atheist. My only defense was that I always said "The church teaches..." So, confession over, I have no real defense.
I will say that the Catholic Church, specifically the Roman Catholic Church, does not believe a single one of the tenets you list. This is part of how dissemblers like myself plod along with a system that is clearly a mess. As an example "The body of christ is transfigured into a tasteless wafer" No it is not, the transfiguration is something else entirely and not relevant to the tasteless wafer. The wafer, through transubstantiation, becomes the body of christ. In college, as a pre-novice )oops, another confession) we baked our own unleavened whole wheat honey loaf. Yummy! I can go through the whole list like this, so cut out what you don't want:
*Condoms actually increase STD's- you are referring to remarks made by the pope or a minion perhaps? The pope rarely speaks "from the chair", the only time his word is considered inerrant. This is something that pope's and officials don't emphasize much.
*Original sin...you nailed that one. A theologian might argue that it informs the treatment of men AND women, and that errors have been introduced through human failings that cause women to be treated so poorly in both doctrine and action.
The Bible (All of it) is the inerrant word of God? This one, not catholic at all, the church teaches both tradition AND bible. In fact, you refer to "fundamentalism", which is taught as bad because without tradition, the whole house of cards comes tumbling down. Clever of them huh? That one always made me laugh, I would think "What about this house of cards?"
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