Pope Faces Reality on Condoms

The Vatican finally decided to recognize the reality that condoms are effective in fighting the spread of AIDS. After fighting a rear-guard action against condom use, receiving massive criticism, and coming up with all sorts of reasons why condoms are actually bad, the Pope has changed his mind.

it is acceptable to use a prophylactic when the sole intention is to "reduce the risk of infection" from Aids.

While he will restate the Catholic Church's staunch objections to contraception because it believes it interferes with the creation of life, he will argue that using a condom to preserve life and avoid death can be a responsible act – even outside marriage.

This is a major change from the church's previous absolutist position opposing all condom use. As the article points out,

The move by Pope Benedict is particularly surprising because he caused controversy last year by suggesting condom use could actually worsen the problem of Aids in Africa.

I've had little but criticism for this pope, but he should be commended for having the courage to realize that his previous position needed to be changed.

Exorcists Wanted!

That's right, the Catholic Church needs more exorcists. It's holding a two-day training conference. Apparently there just aren't enough exorcists available in the U.S. to counter the demonic onslaught sweeping across the country.

Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Ill., who organized the conference, said only a tiny number of U.S. priests have enough training and knowledge to perform an exorcism. Dioceses nationwide have been relying solely on these clergy, who have been overwhelmed with requests to evaluate claims.

But the church doesn't advertise these type of events, preferring to keep a low profile with regard to exorcisms. Why?

1999, the church updated the Rite of Exorcism, cautioning that “all must be done to avoid the perception that exorcism is magic or superstition.”

Who would think that an arcane ritual designed to cast-out invisible evil beings was based on superstition? Imagine that. Naturally the church decides what are and are not cases of demonic possession. They're the experts on possession by invisible evil beings.

Signs of demonic possession accepted by the church include violent reaction to holy water or anything holy, speaking in a language the possessed person doesn’t know and abnormal displays of strength.

It's interesting that these invisible evil beings react badly to things that are "holy." What exactly makes holy water holy? Whatever it is, apparently demons can detect it.

The full exorcism is held in private and includes sprinkling holy water, reciting Psalms, reading aloud from the Gospel, laying on of hands and reciting the Lord’s Prayer. Some adaptations are allowed for different circumstances. The exorcist can invoke the Holy Spirit then blow in the face of the possessed person, trace the sign of the cross on the person’s forehead and command the devil to leave.

Again, why on earth would the church worry that people might think such practices are based on superstition? It's just baffling.

Thank Catholics for the Huge GOP Victory?

I'm always highly skeptical of election exit poll analysis, since analysts usually overstate the effects of whatever results they choose to highlight. [For example, I could just as easily have made this post about gay voters.] But having said that, I came across an interesting article on the role played by religious voters in this election. The breakdown was similar to the 2008 vote, although Republicans gained overall as you might expect. But there was one glaring difference.

Catholic voters, who had favored Democratic over Republican candidates by double-digit margins in the last two congressional elections, swung to the GOP in 2010.

It's interesting that Catholics would shift more dramatically, and actually switch from majority Democrat to majority Republican support. I'm not sure why Catholics in particular would abandon the Democrats. But whatever the reasons, let's hope that trend continues.

The Intellectual Dishonesty of Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict is at it again, attacking "atheist extremism" and "aggressive secularism" on his visit to Britain.

The leader of the Roman Catholic church concluded a speech, made before the Queen and assembled dignitaries at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, with the argument that the Nazi desire to eradicate God had led to the Holocaust and a plea for 21st-century Britain to respect its Christian foundations. ...Benedict was more explicit in his condemnation of militant atheism, noting that Britain had fought the atheistic evil embodied by Adolf Hitler.

"Even in our own lifetime, we can recall how Britain and her leaders stood against a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society and denied our common humanity to many, especially the Jews, who were thought unfit to live," he said.

Promoting atheism was not one of the missions of Nazism, and there is no good evidence that Hitler himself was an atheist. The one major political organization directly associated with atheism, the communist party, was a mortal enemy of Adolf Hitler & the Nazi party. Its German members were exterminated or thrown into concentration camps once Hitler gained total control of the state. Anti-Semitism, and the denial of our "common humanity" did not begin with the Nazis. Hitler was able to act on his own radical hatred of the Jews because of the long historical foundation of European anti-Semitism, which had strong roots in certain Christian attitudes and teachings, including those of the Catholic Church.

Pope Benedict is a highly-educated man. It is impossible to believe that he isn't aware of the basic history of the Nazi era in Germany, or the roots and practice of European anti-Semitism and its linkage to Christianity. His attempts to tie atheism to Nazism & anti-Semitism are pure intellectual dishonesty of the worst kind. He is smearing an entire category of people as somehow responsible for atrocities that they had nothing to do with. Portraying atheism as a motivating force for the Holocaust is an outright lie -- and the Pope must know that what he is saying is untrue. He apparently thinks enough people are stupid enough to swallow his ridiculous anti-atheist propaganda.

It should also go without saying that it takes amazing nerve to make false linkages between atheism and Nazism when you yourself were a member of the Hitler Youth. I can't remember a pope in my lifetime that has presented such an ugly face of Catholicism to the world. I wonder how many Catholics will be secretly relieved when this guy is gone and a new pope is in place.

Arrest the Pope?

Now I'm no fan of the Catholic Church, or of the current Pope, but this is just ridiculous.

RICHARD DAWKINS, the atheist campaigner, is planning a legal ambush to have the Pope arrested during his state visit to Britain “for crimes against humanity”.

Unfortunately, even the usually more sensible Christopher Hitchens has associated himself with this idiocy.

Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, the atheist author, have asked human rights lawyers to produce a case for charging Pope Benedict XVI over his alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic church. 

The pair believe they can exploit the same legal principle used to arrest Augusto Pinochet, the late Chilean dictator, when he visited Britain in 1998.

The supposed basis for this nonsense is that back in 1985, the Pope (then a cardinal) delayed the removal of a molestor priest. Was Cardinal Ratzinger a typical bureaucrat more interested in protecting his institution than the people it was supposed to serve? Yes. Is he some sort of heinous criminal who needs to be arrested on sight for "crimes against humanity"? Of course not. And the so-called "legal principle" used to arrest Pinochet was and is nothing more than a politically-based bill of attainder, whereby a single, unpopular individual is marked for arrest, while all sorts of others who have committed real or arguable crimes of equal or greater magnitude are left unmolested. As the article notes, the most recent use of this "principle" was employed by terrorist supporters in an attempt to arrest the former Israeli prime minister. 

The idea that a few people in a country can declare that specific individuals have committed "crimes against humanity," find a ideologically friendly judge to give force to their opinion, and put out an arrest warrant is extremely dangerous. If employed against a U.S. citizen it should be seen as a hostile act toward the United States. Dawkins and Hitchens are publicity-seeking fools who have unfortunately associated atheism with their idiotic campaign against the Pope. All it does it make atheists look like crazed anti-Catholic zealots, and gives credence to defenders of the Catholic church who already think their church and leader are being unfairly singled out for persecution.

Why Single Out the Catholic Church?

A couple of days ago I wrote a post concerning a recent Vatican response to criticism over the sexual abuse scandals. Dan Collins, from Piece of Work in Progress (POWIP), a blog I like and read, came by and provided a couple of links pointing out that sexual abuse of children is also a problem with rabbis, and in the public school system. Today on POWIP there is a post called, "Those Damn Catholics and Their Pedophile Priests!" which makes essentially the same point -- that sexual abuse of children isn't exactly confined to the Catholic Church.

as it turns out, at least statistically-speaking, the numbers of abuse cases reported among the Protestant churches in the US are — wait for it — actually higher

The basic argument is that the Catholic Church is being unfairly singled out. I find this type of defense extremely weak and based on false analogies.

Protestant churches, Jewish rabbis, and the public school system are not comparable organizations to the Catholic Church. There are numerous Protestant churches, most of which are independent entities, as are synagogues. The U.S. public school system is divided among 50 states, each with their own separate authorities. In contrast, the Catholic Church is a hierarchical organization. The Pope and the rest of the Vatican leadership claim authority over the entire priesthood. The Pope rules on doctrine, and on the fundamental practices of the church. He's the Vicar of Christ on Earth, the ultimate authority. The church may be a huge organization, with many local branches throughout the world, but it is still one Catholic Church, and there is only one pope, one Vatican, and one center of authority. 

There is no one who can set procedures for how Protestant churches respond to sexual abuse. It depends on what church you are talking about. There is no one who decides how individual rabbis are disciplined for abuse. The state authorities here in New Jersey have no control over measures taken against public school sex abuse problems in neighboring Pennsylvania. The reason the Catholic Church can be singled out for criticism, is precisely because it is a single organization with a clear chain of command. And the evidence suggests that the Catholic chain of command has failed miserably on this issue. 

Suppose there was a giant multinational corporation called X Industries. Despite its size it is family-owned, and the CEO has near dictatorial powers over company operations. His word is law for X Industries. X Industries is involved in a huge scandal in which company managers are embezzling funds from customers. Not only does X not fire the offenders, it conceals their actions from legal authorities and simply transfers them to new positions, where some re-offend. This goes on for decades. When the scandal finally breaks, X Industries defenders claim that criticism of the company and its CEO are based on smears, and bias against X Industries. After all, they point out, other people embezzle money all the time. Rates of embezzlement are even higher in some economic areas. Is anyone buying this argument? I'm not.

Criticism of the Catholic Church Equals Anti-Semitism?

That's the latest line from the Vatican in its attempt to portray the church as some sort of victim.

Attacks on Pope Benedict and the Catholic Church over a sexual abuse scandal are comparable to the most shameful anti-Semitism, said a letter read by a preacher at a Vatican Good Friday service attended by the pontiff.

Last I checked, there isn't a worldwide Jewish church with decades of sexual abuse scandals involving rabbis in multiple countries. And the non-existent worldwide Jewish church didn't respond to those abuses by ignoring or concealing crimes, and by transferring offending rabbis to new locations. I don't seem to remember the Jews running entire parochial school systems where abuse of children was endemic.

the Vatican has accused the media of an "ignoble" attempt to smear the pope at all costs.

That's right, blame the media. Apparently its "ignoble" to ask legitimate questions and expect some responsibility from the head of a huge organization caught up in major scandals of its own making. Regardless of what the Catholic Church seems to think, the pope isn't and shouldn't be immune from criticism, including questions about his personal actions or lack thereof.

If I were a Catholic, I would be embarrassed and appalled by the church. Not only does it bear responsibility for permitting years of abuse to go unchecked, but rather than taking ownership of its problems, and focusing on cleaning up its mess, the church hierarchy prefers to attack its critics with ridiculous analogies to anti-Semitism. And it takes quite a bit of gall to bring up anti-Semitism, when your organization was one of its leading promoters for centuries.

Pope Not a Big Fan of Equality

The Pope is planning a visit to Britain and published a message to Catholic bishops in the UK. In it he made some interesting statements. He's not happy about equal rights for gay people, because that violates what he sees as the Church's right to discriminate against them.

Your country is well known for its firm commitment to equality of opportunity for all members of society. Yet as you have rightly pointed out, the effect of some of the legislation designed to achieve this goal has been to impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs. In some respects it actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded and by which it is guaranteed.

Here we see one of the biggest problems of natural law arguments. Because natural law doesn't actually exist as anything other than a philosophical concept, it can mean whatever the person citing it wants it to mean. The Christian demonization of homosexuality as a sin, and their desire to discriminate against gay people isn't based on ancient texts and bigotry, it's rooted in natural law. Treating homosexuals equally is the wrong thing to do, because it's a violation of natural law -- a natural law that gives Christians the right to discriminate purely on the basis of their religious beliefs. This is prime example of religious "reasoning." And there's more.

Fidelity to the Gospel in no way restricts the freedom of others – on the contrary, it serves their freedom by offering them the truth.

According to the Pope, discriminating against people based on the words of ancient religious texts somehow doesn't restrict their freedom. The freedom of Christians to inflict their superstitions on everyone else is the only freedom that actually matters. And if you dispute that, it's because you don't understand the TRUTH. 

Child-abusing Irish Nuns

It appears that Catholic priests and male members of religious orders weren't the only elements of the church involved in massive, systemic child abuse in Ireland. An order of Catholic nuns, the apparently misnamed Sisters of Mercy, agreed to pay 128 million euros to "compensate child abuse survivors."

The Congregation, exposed along with 17 other orders for imposing physically and psychologically abusive regimes in state-run institutions, said the offer was an attempt to be faithful to values of reparation, reconciliation, healing and responsibility.

Well, better late than never I guess. But with the extent of the abuse uncovered in Ireland, you have to wonder if the abusive treatment of children wasn't somehow the result of church policy. After all, it wasn't just one group or one school, but eighteen separate orders including nuns. It's pretty hard to believe that all those different organizations were running abusive schools without the knowledge and at least tacit approval of the Catholic church in Ireland.

Catholic Priests and the Rwandan Genocide

There is an article up at CNN about the arrest of a Rwandan Catholic priest, wanted in connection with the 1994 genocide.

The Rwandan government alleges that Uwayezu sowed the seeds for ethnic hatred at the school by blaming the nation's troubles on the "inyenzi," a term meaning cockroach, used by Hutu extremists to describe Tutsis. The government says the priest then alerted security forces, trapped the students and organized their killing at the nearby College of Arts on May 7, 1994.

Four other priests have been indicted by the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. But human rights groups say the " the small number of indictments do not accurately represent the church's role in the genocide." They argue that the church not only failed to condemn the massacres, but refused to try to save lives. And if the allegations about these priests are correct, some apparently took an active role in the genocide. I know the Catholic Church is a huge organization, but even so, the amount and variety of misconduct by its priests is still disturbing.

Saint's Relics Energize Atheist

Matthew Parris at the Times Online has a pretty funny article about the relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux, (a 19th century nun and Catholic saint), which will go on tour in England and Wales -- well, funny for non-Catholics at least. Here's Parris,

Just when my disbelief was flagging — not for want of certainty but out of weariness with banging on — comes a report that energises me with anger. ... Does balanced reporting require neutrality even towards the self-evidently preposterous? Would a conference of the Flat Earth Society get giggle-free treatment on the news?

He calls for atheists to speak out,

For pity’s sake, closet atheists of Britain, come out! Don’t “respect” this credulous folly! Don’t let the madnesses of these faith minorities go by default! Stop our politicians kowtowing to nutters!

I also found this question pretty amusing.

How can bishops sanction this paganistic nonsense?

Why does he even need to ask? Where would the Catholic church be without all sorts of ritualistic, traditional nonsense? If they wanted to have just the bare bones version of Christian nonsense, they'd be Protestants.

Atheists Wrecking the Environment?

I was surprised to learn that "atheism and secularism" are linked with "environmental destruction." If there is one thing we atheists and secularists appreciate, it's destroying the environment to make a profit. Guess who makes that claim? That's right, the Pope.

inconsiderate use of creation begins where God is marginalized or also where his existence is denied

That's because for those of us who don't have a "relationship with the Creator,"

the objective of existence is reduced to a feverish race to possess the most possible.

Atheists, wrecking the environment in a race to accumulate possessions. That's our object for existence. Or the Pope could just be making another of his stupid, unfounded assertions. After all, what's a religion without unfounded assertions?

I was going to write more but I need to go cut down some trees, after I dump some waste oil and old batteries in the lake.

The Pope: Bad Ideas from Both Sides

The Vatican just released a document containing papal commentary on the world economy. Unlike what you might expect from someone who is usually seen as a hardline conservative, the Pope's positions are nothing more than simplistic, utopian, leftist tripe.

Benedict sketches out a new vision of a world economy radically different from the current model and one where access to food and water is a universal right, wealthy nations share their wealth with poorer ones, and where profit is not the ultimate goal of commerce. He advocated the creation of a "world political authority" to manage the global economy.

The rest of his comments that are quoted in the article are equally laughable nonsense.

For me Pope Benedict XVI combines the worst of right & left. He's an extremist social conservative on issues such as abortion, contraception & gay marriage, while at the same time being an economic illiterate who embraces vague utopian socialist ideals.

Catholic Child-Abuse in Ireland

Ireland's Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse just released a report after nine years of study focused on "Catholic-run institutions." The results are highly disturbing and a massive indictment of of the church schools.

priests and nuns terrorized thousands of boys and girls in workhouse-style schools for decades - and government inspectors failed to stop the chronic beatings, rapes and humiliation.

Despite the endemic abuse, the people who participated in it will escape any punishment.

findings will not be used for criminal prosecutions - in part because the Christian Brothers successfully sued the commission in 2004 to keep the identities of all of its members, dead or alive, unnamed in the report.

The Vatican had no comment.

"Atheism As Fashion Statement"

That's the title of an article yesterday at The American Catholic. The column is based on the comments of author and former atheist A.N. Wilson, who recently converted to Christianity. Wilson says that growing up in Britain left him feeling that religion was "uncool," and that this made him lose his childhood faith and become an atheist. Fine, that's one man's story. But the author of this piece feels the need to extrapolate Wilson's experience to atheism at large.

Atheism as fashion statement. Very true, and a key weakness of atheism long term. Intellectual fashions and trends come and go. The Church has proven its staying power over 2000 turbulent years, in many periods going uphill against the “spirit of the times”. I doubt if the current wave of atheism will have this type of endurance.

Except that it isn't a fashion statement for most atheists. Many atheists, probably the overwhelming majority in the U.S., did not grow up thinking religion was uncool and adopt atheism to be part of a intellectual club. Most came to realize that their religious beliefs simply didn't make any sense, and that there was no evidence behind them. And as their faith eroded, they looked for evidence of God, and found it non-existent. Atheism is no more a mere trend than Christianity. Atheists have been around throughout history, and there were likely more than we know about.  Far from being a fashion statement, open atheism still provokes hatred, discrimination, and outright persecution from the religious majority in many areas. Even in the U.S. polls show that atheists are a despised minority.

After admitting that he doesn't need evidence to hold his religious beliefs, the author turns right around and attacks atheists as irrational.

materialist atheism is not merely an arid creed, but totally irrational.

Anyone writing the following shouldn't be accusing others of irrationality:

Materialist atheism says we are just a collection of chemicals. It has no answer whatsoever to the question of how we should be capable of love or heroism or poetry if we are simply animated pieces of meat.

That's right, atheists must view people as just "animated pieces of meat" because we look for naturalistic explanations to understand the wonders of human existence, rather than attributing them to an imaginary magical being. 

Catholics & Hitler

Yesterday there was a post up by Mark at Proud Atheists titled, "Why Do Christians Insist That Hitler Was an Atheist?" He gives this claim a quick debunking. Today, Deutsche Welle reports that

A German bishop has told his Easter congregation that mass murder and other crimes committed by the Nazis are evidence that atheism is inhumane. His comments have caused outraged among German atheist organizations.

As Mark points out, there is no evidence that Hitler considered himself an atheist, and plenty of evidence to the contrary. He had a bizarre mix of religious and quasi-religious beliefs, and certainly wasn't acting based on atheism. All anyone has to do is read his writings and speeches to see that. And the Catholic Church, particularly its German branch, is one of the last entities that should be lecturing anyone about the Holocaust, let alone trying to blame it on atheism. The spinelessness of the Catholic Church, and in some cases willing cooperation in the face of Nazism has been well-documented. If anyone wants to look at the evidence, Saul Friedlander's exhaustive two-volume study, Nazi Germany and the Jews, provides plenty of damning details.

Death Penalty Dies in New Mexico

New Mexico just repealed the death penalty, replacing it with life without parole. Governor Bill Richardson made a big deal out of it, saying that it was “most difficult decision in my political life.” Why was it difficult? New Mexico never uses the death penalty anyway. According to the New York Times, that state has executed only one person since 1960.

Just out of curiosity I decided to check on the number of murders in New Mexico. Maybe they haven't had many, so there just isn't a need for a death penalty. After all, they've only executed one criminal in almost 50 years. If my addition is correct, after checking the statistics, there have been 6,033 murders in New Mexico from 1961 to 2007. Let's see now: over 6,000 murders, 1 execution. Wow, they sure are harsh on murderers there in New Mexico. And people wonder why the death penalty might not be an effective deterrent.

As an aside, the article notes that one of the main supporters of getting rid of the death penalty was the Catholic Church, which "lobbied hard for repeal." It's good to see that the church took time out from attacking child rape victims who have abortions, and discouraging people in AID-infested areas from using condoms, to successfully fight against a penalty that is never even used.

Papal Nonsense About Condoms

Not content with the public relations disaster caused by the recent controversy in Brazil, the Catholic Church, in the person of the Pope, has decided to try to cause some actual damage. The Pope is heading to Africa, and on his way he spoke out on the AIDS issue. He attacked the distribution of condoms, claiming that "it increases the problem." That's right, the Pope thinks condoms make the AIDS situation in Africa worse.

Untold amounts of money and the efforts of numerous aid and health workers have gone into promoting condom use in Africa, because we know for a fact that it helps reduce the spread of AIDS. But the leader of one of the world's largest religions doesn't believe it. Not only doesn't he believe it, but he has no problem speaking out and trying to undermine health efforts in Africa. He's not just reaffirming the Catholic belief in abstinence, he's deliberately lying about the impact of condom use, and endangering the health of any Catholics who listen to him. 

Brazilian Child-rape Case Part 2

The case of a 9 year old girl who had an abortion after becoming pregnant because of rape by her stepfather, which I recently wrote about here, has taken another turn. Not content with merely condemning the abortion, the Catholic Church in Brazil is now excommunicating the doctors involved and the girl's mother. According to the BBC, the situation has "has attracted criticism from women's rights groups in Brazil." Only from women's groups? If so, that's pretty sad.

The Ugly Face of Catholicism in Brazil

A nine year old girl was raped by her stepfather. She became pregnant with twins. Although abortion is illegal in Brazil, an exception was made and she had one at 15 weeks. Guess who objected to the abortion and felt the need to speak out? That's right, the Catholic Church.

Marcio Miranda, a lawyer for the Archdiocese of Olinda and Recife in northeastern Brazil, said the girl should have carried the twins to term and had a Caesarean section.

"It's the law of God: Do not kill. We consider this murder," Miranda said in comments reported by O Globo.

What about the little rape victim? He has no problem making a 9 year old go through a pregnancy brought on by rape, and then forcing her to have a major operation. She doesn't matter. Saving potential children is more important than than her life, according to the church in Brazil.