Before yesterday's election a Catholic priest used an aborted fetus to make a case for choosing Donald Trump.

 Courtesy of WaPo: 

Ahead of Tuesday’s presidential election, the Rev. Frank Pavone took an aborted fetus, laid it upon an altar Sunday and posted a live video on Facebook. Pavone, a Catholic priest who heads New York-based Priests for Life, said the fetus was entrusted to him by a pathologist for burial. 

During an already heated and divisive campaign season, Pavone’s video has raised questions for some about what is appropriate antiabortion and political activism in the church. As of Monday afternoon, the video, which is 44 minutes long, had 236,000 views. In it, he holds up a poster of graphics of abortion procedures. 

In Pavone’s Facebook appeal, he wrote, “we have to decide if we will allow this child killing to continue in America or not. Hillary Clinton and the Democratic platform says yes, let the child-killing continue (and you pay for it); Donald Trump and the Republican platform says no, the child should be protected.”

Okay first off, that's really gross.

Secondly if the Catholic church REALLY wanted to reduce the number of abortions in this country they would advocate for the use of birth control, instead of treating women like breeding stock and telling them that if they get knocked up it is God's will.

And thirdly what ever made this priest think that Donald Trump was going to be an anti-abortion advocate?

The only thing that Trump changes more than the person he calls "Mrs. Trump," is his position on abortion.

Apparently this stunt has really blown up Pavone's face and he is receiving criticism from all sides, and is actually in danger of being disciplined by the church .

Good.

Pope Francis says that the church needs to apologize to gays, women, and children. Yes it does!

Courtesy of National Catholic Reporter: 

The Catholic church and other Christian communities must apologize to gay people and to many groups they have let down or offended throughout history, Pope Francis has said. 

In a press conference Sunday on the flight back to Rome after his weekend trip to Armenia, the pontiff said bluntly: "The church must say it's sorry for not having comported itself well many times, many times." 

"I believe that the church not only must say it's sorry ... to this person that is gay that it has offended," said the pope. "But it must say it's sorry to the poor, also, to mistreated women, to children forced to work." 

"When I say the church: Christians," Francis clarified. "The church is healthy. We are the sinners."

As I have pointed out before I am very reticent to trust this Pope on the things that he says, but damn I have to say that this is a very powerful statement, And one that I would really like to see at least Catholics around the world take to heart.

There is indeed quite a lot for the Catholic church to apologize for, as it has caused great harm in many places around the world.

Perhaps, just perhaps, this is the first step towards taking real responsibility for some of the most horrific policies of the church and a step toward having more inclusive policies moving forward.

Hey, I can dream.

St. Louis Archbishop wants to kick the Girl Scouts off of church property because essentially they do not hate on women and gays nearly enough.

Courtesy of St. Louis Post-Dispatch:  

St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson has issued a letter calling on parishes to seek alternatives to Girl Scouts, arguing that the program and related organizations conflict with Roman Catholic teaching. 

The Archdiocese of St. Louis isn’t directly kicking Girl Scout troops and activities off church properties (Yes he is.), but is suggesting they and their cookies may no longer be welcome in the fold. 

“Girl Scouts is exhibiting a troubling pattern of behavior and it is clear to me that as they move in the ways of the world it is becoming increasingly incompatible with our Catholic values,” Carlson wrote in a letter dated Thursday. “We must stop and ask ourselves — is Girl Scouts concerned with the total well-being of our young women? Does it do a good job forming the spiritual, emotional, and personal well-being of Catholic girls?” 

The letter said issues such as reproductive rights and abortion separate the church from Girl Scouts and related organizations. 

The letter was a disappointment to Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri CEO Bonnie Barczykowski, who said by email Friday the organization “has enjoyed a history of cooperation with the Archdiocese of St. Louis for almost 100 years.”

"Well you had a good hundred year run Girl Scouts, but if you insist on being so damn reasonable you are going to have to get the fuck off of church property right now. But hey, leave some of those delightful cookies."anti-a

Personally I think that the Girl Scouts should remove themselves from church property, but not because this Archbishop is so intolerant, but because the Catholic Church is bulging at the seams with pedophiles.

The Catholic Church's guidelines for newly appointed Bishops is that it is "not necessarily" their duty to report child sexual abuse.

Courtesy of the Guardian:  

The Catholic church is telling newly appointed bishops that it is “not necessarily” their duty to report accusations of clerical child abuse and that only victims or their families should make the decision to report abuse to police. 

A document that spells out how senior clergy members ought to deal with allegations of abuse, which was recently released by the Vatican, emphasised that, though they must be aware of local laws, bishops’ only duty was to address such allegations internally. 

“According to the state of civil laws of each country where reporting is obligatory, it is not necessarily the duty of the bishop to report suspects to authorities, the police or state prosecutors in the moment when they are made aware of crimes or sinful deeds,” the training document states. 

The training guidelines were written by a controversial French monsignor and psychotherapist, Tony Anatrella, who serves as a consultant to the Pontifical Council for the Family. The Vatican released the guidelines – which are part of a broader training programme for newly named bishops – at a press conference earlier this month and is now seeking feedback.

Oh, well I have some feedback for the Catholic church.

Fuck you!

In my current job, and many of the jobs I have had in the past, I am mandated to report ALL instances of child abuse, sexual or otherwise, that I might witness, hear about, or suspect.

The reason for that is because I work with children, and work with others who work with children.

However in my opinion ALL adults should consider themselves mandated to report child abuse, because WE are the ones who children relay on to keep them safe.

That is our job. Period!

So my question is the following. How does an organization which advertises itself as being the very foundation for morality justify allowing children to be victimized while they stand by and do nothing?

Catholic church stunned by Ireland's overwhelming vote to embrace marriage equality.

Courtesy of Yahoo News: 

The once-dominant Catholic Church in Ireland was trying to come to terms Sunday with an overwhelming vote in favour of gay marriage, saying it needed a "new language" to connect to people. 

As jubilant "Yes" supporters nursed their hangovers after partying late into the night following Saturday's referendum result, the faithful attended mass to hear their priests reflect on the new social landscape in Ireland. 

"The Church has to find a new language which will be understood and heard by people," Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin, a senior Irish cleric, told reporters after mass at the city's St Mary's Pro-Cathedral. 

"We have to see how is it that the Church's teaching on marriage and family is not being received even within its own flock." 

He added: "There's a growing gap between Irish young people and the Church and there's a growing gap between the culture of Ireland that's developing and the Church."

Yeah don't you just hate it when the people you have carefully manipulated into fearfully following your primitive doctrines start thinking for themselves? 

Gotta love this.

Religious leaders want certain Supreme Court justices to recuse themselves from the gay marriage case because they might "gasp" be FOR marriage equality.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

Religious leaders are calling on members of the Supreme Court’s liberal wing to recuse themselves from the blockbuster gay marriage case that the court will begin considering on Tuesday. 

Standing on the steps of the Supreme Court, Scott Lively, president of Abiding Truth Ministries, told reporters he’s filing a motion with the Supreme Court calling for the recusal of Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan. 

“Justices Ginsburg and Kagan, knowing full well that unique legal issues regarding the definition of marriage would soon come before them, deliberately officiated at so-called homosexual wedding ceremonies creating not merely the appearance of bias, but an actual and blatant conflict of interest,” he said. 

“In my personal view they have committed an unparalleled breach of judicial ethics by elevating the importance of their own favored political cause of gay rights above the integrity of the court and of our nation.”

"They have committed an unparalleled breach of judicial ethics." 

Interesting. 

Do you know what else is interesting?

Yesterday the Supreme Court struck down a ruling favoring the Affordable Care Act:

The Supreme Court on Monday gave new life to a lawsuit challenging ObamaCare’s contraception mandate, striking down a previous ruling in favor of the federal government. 

The justices asked an appeals court in Cincinnati to reconsider a legal challenge that the Catholic ministries in Michigan and Tennessee filed against an ObamaCare provision that requires employers to cover birth control for all workers. 

The justices asked the lower court to reconsider the case in light of last year's landmark ruling on the contraception mandate. That decision, issued last June, held that the arts-and-crafts retailer Hobby Lobby could opt out of the contraception mandate for religious reasons. 

So the case was brought by the Catholic ministries in Michigan and Tennessee? Hmm I wonder how many Catholics are currently serving on the Supreme Court?

There are six Roman Catholics currently serving on the court including Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy, John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Sonia Sotomayor, and Clarence Thomas. (Source.)

Well gee that sounds like a conflict of interest to me.

So if Justices Ginsberg and Kagan have "committed an unparalleled breach of judicial ethics" then what is to be said for the Justices who side with their church, over their government, on an issue pertaining to women's health care?

Ted Cruz calls those who accept that climate change is real "flat earthers," while also demonstrating a complete misunderstanding of science and history.

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

A few days after accusing “global warming alarmists” like California Governor Jerry Brown (D) of ridiculing and insulting “anyone who actually looks at the real data” around climate change, newly-declared presidential candidate Ted Cruz (R-TX) upped his rhetoric against those who care about the issue. 

Speaking to the Texas Tribune on Tuesday, Cruz said that contemporary “global warming alarmists are the equivalent of the flat-Earthers.” 

“You know it used to be it is accepted scientific wisdom the Earth is flat, and this heretic named Galileo was branded a denier,” he said. 

In Cruz’s opinion, when it comes to climate change, his denier position places him alongside 17th Century scientist Galileo Galilei, who was also considered to be denying the mainstream knowledge of his day. 

What Cruz fails to recognize is that Gailileo was not taking the minority scientific position against "Accepted scientific wisdom," he was taking a scientific position against a religious position.

That is why the Catholic church threw his ass into prison.

And what Cruz is doing today is to take the religious position, which is that only God can control the climate, against the scientific one, which is essentially "What are you high? Of course pollutants sent into the atmosphere by human beings are negatively impacting climate."

You know it takes some set of Cuban/Canadian balls to compare yourself to Galileo Galilei while arguing on the side of the religiously superstitious. 

Pope Francis backs ban on contraception and calls gay marriage “ideological colonization of the family.” So much for progress within the Catholic Church.

"What did you expect? I'm the Pope."

Courtesy of Crux:  

In points he’s made before in other settings, Pope Francis on Friday criticized what he called the “ideological colonization of the family,” language that many took as a reference to gay marriage, and also defended a previous pope who upheld the Church’s ban on contraception. 

“The family is threatened by growing efforts on the part of some to redefine the very institution of marriage, by relativism, by the culture of the ephemeral, by a lack of openness to life,” Francis said. 

A Vatican spokesman confirmed Friday evening that, at least in part, the pope had gay marriage in mind. 

The remarks came in a session Francis held with more than 1,000 families in a downtown Manila arena, amid the pontiff’s Jan. 12-19 trip to Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

Gee and just when everybody was starting to like this guy. 

It might be time to remind people that the only reason that the Catholic church is so adamantly against birth control is simply because the church is terrified to reveal to the world that Popes are not infallible: 

“If it should be declared that contraception is not evil in itself, then we should have to concede frankly that the Holy Spirit had been on the side of the Protestant churches in 1930 (when the encyclical Casti connubii was promulgated), in 1951 (Pius XII’s address to the midwives), and in 1958 (the address delivered before the Society of Hematologists in the year the pope died). It should likewise have to be admitted that for a half a century the Spirit failed to protect Pius XI, Pius XII, and a large part of the Catholic hierarchy from a very serious error. This would mean that the leaders of the Church, acting with extreme imprudence, had condemned thousands of innocent human acts, forbidding, under pain of eternal damnation, a practice which would now be sanctioned. The fact can neither be denied nor ignored that these same acts would now be declared licit on the grounds of principles cited by the Protestants, which popes and bishops have either condemned or at least not approved.”

Without religion there would be no reason to hate the gays, and without the Catholic church there would be virtually no resistance to birth control, or abortion for that matter.

American cardinal is blaming feminism for shortage of Catholic priests. Wait, what?

"Get away from me harlots!"

Courtesy of International Business Times:  

American Cardinal Raymond Burke, a known conservative and one of Pope Francis’ biggest critics, says the “radical feminist movement” has left Roman Catholic men feeling “marginalized” since the 1960s. His comments were made in an interview published Jan. 5 with Matthew James Christoff of “The New Emangelization,” a Catholic men’s ministry. 

“Men are often reluctant to become active in the Church. The feminized environment and the lack of the Church’s effort to engage men has led many men to simply opt out,” Burke said. He points to the popularity of pornography, saying it promotes extramarital sex, a “materialistic and consumer-focused” society that pushes parents to work longer hours and the introduction of altar girls as reasons for men to feel reluctant to be active Catholics. 

“The introduction of girl servers also led many boys to abandon altar service. Young boys don’t want to do things with girls. It’s just natural. The girls were also very good at altar service. So many boys drifted away over time,” Burke said, adding that this contributed to the declining number of priestly vocations in the church. 

Altar girls have existed since 1983, when the church removed its ban on girls helping priests at the altar.

You know here's a thought, and I will just throw this out there, but wouldn't this problem solve itself if the Catholic church simply started allowing women to become priests?

Or is it simply better to continue to blame women for every problem that arises, like the religion has been doing since its inception?

Femen "sextremist" is arrested in Vatican City for stealing baby Jesus while topless.

Courtesy of News.Mic:

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the woman, Ukrainian citizen Iana Alexandrovna Zhdanova, stands accused of vilification of religion, obscene acts in public and theft. A Vatican policeman stopped Zhdanova, who had "God Is Woman" written on her bare chest, after she seized the statue of the Christ Child and attempted to make off with it shortly after Pope Francis had finished reading his Christmas greeting to the faithful assembled. The policeman attempted to cover Azhdanova with his cape (Vatican police have capes!) with mixed success. 

Femen, for its part, is unrepentant, even putting up a gallery of images of the attempted Jesus-napping on its website. In a statement, the feminist collective proudly described itself as "persona non grata" in Vatican City: 

"This morning the Holy Vatican court reviewed the case of the kidnapping of baby Jesus Christ commited [sic] by FEMEN sextremist and recognizing the absolute legality of her arrest, however, it has ordered to release Zhdanova. Sextremist Zhdanova will be extradited from Vatican, followed by a ban on enter the territory of the Holy See. The infant, which have been kidnapped by FEMEN, became a symbol of necessity of taking away a woman's right on reproductive function and sexual freedom off the Church. A sacred duty of every woman is to take away the child from Vatican!'

The organization describes itself as "fighting patriarchy in its three manifestations — sexual exploitation of women, dictatorship and religion," and has stated that its goal is "sextremism serving to protect women's rights."

You know I actually started to write this post, which i put off for a few days, with the idea that I would condemn their actions at the end and suggest that there are better ways of getting their point across. 

However after reading through this article and few others on the incident I find myself agreeing with them to some degree.

So now I am all conflicted and junk.

So I will leave up to you dear readers. What do you think? Over the top, or reasonable response to an oppressive anti-female organization?

Bishop of Shrewsbury calls the John Lennon song Imagine "heart chilling."

Courtesy of the Catholic Herald: 

The Bishop of Shrewsbury has described the John Lennon song Imagine as “heart-chilling” in a Christmas homily. 

Reflecting on this year’s Christmas adverts which focus on the First World War, Bishop Mark Davies will say in a homily on Christmas Day: “The events of Christmas 1914 give the lie to the lazily repeated assertion that ‘religion is the cause of wars’. John Lennon would give voice to this ill-founded belief in the lyrics of his song Imagine. This becomes a heart-chilling vision in which Lennon imagines a world with no hope of heaven and no fear of hell. And he adds, ‘no religion too’. Only then, he suggests will ‘all the people’ be ‘living life in peace.’” 

The bishop will continue: “Yet the fact is, the wars of the century past, bringing with them atrocities and destruction on a scale never seen before, were largely inspired by secularist and, indeed, openly anti-Christian ideologies. In reality, it is human sin which lies at the root cause of war. Conflicts, writes St James, arise within the human heart wherever ‘bitter jealousy and selfish ambition’ are found (James 3: 14). Tonight we declare that Christ came to ‘save us from our sins’, to enable us to give glory to God and to bring peace amongst men. Christ calls all who would follow Him to have, as we have just heard in St Paul’s words: ‘no ambition except to do good’ (Titus 2:14).”

That last part is complete bullshit. In fact most wars were either inspired by religious differences, ideological differences, or strategic power grabs.

And the word "sin" is a bullshit primitive definition to explain complicated human behaviors that too many people lack the intellect or patience to understand completley.

As for the John Lennon, well I will take his beautiful song about hope and peace over the Catholic church's doctrine of shame, oppression, and misogyny any day of the week.

Former teacher wins 1.9 million is damages after Catholic Diocese fires her for using in vitro fertilization in an attempt to get pregnant.

Courtesy of The Journal Gazette: 

Almost every single thing for which Emily Herx asked the jury, she received. 

Nearly $2 million in damages, and vindication, after the jury ruled that the Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend discriminated against the former language arts teacher at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School when they fired her for undergoing in vitro fertilization. 

The verdict came after about 51/2 hours of deliberation Friday afternoon, capping off a four-day jury trial before U.S. District Judge Robert Miller Jr. in the expansive federal courthouse just a few blocks from the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the center of the diocese. 

As she waited for the jury to come in, Herx sat ramrod straight in her chair at the table next to her attorney, Kathleen DeLaney, her face anything but calm as she clearly tried to control her breathing and anxiety. 

Throughout the trial, she heard herself characterized by the defense as a potential drug abuser, an emotional basket case and as someone who committed a sin so grave and immoral that no circumstances could justify it. 

But after the verdict was read, she seemed to uncoil with relief, crying and holding onto DeLaney in a long and tearful embrace.

Whenever I hear people defending the church's anti-abortion stance it makes me shake my head.

The church is not so much interested in protecting unborn babies as they are in controlling women's reproductive organs.

All this woman was trying to do is exactly what the church claims to support. And that is to give birth to a child.

But because the woman, the married woman, could not conceive naturally, and turned to science instead of accepting God's will, she was not only condemned by the church but they took away her livelihood as well.

Is the slow motion death of religion in America more the fault of the Republicans than it is the fault of outspoken Atheists? Could be.

As all of you know the only thing that fascinates me more than politics is religion. And I spend an inordinate amount of time reading about its origins, evolution, and its decreasing popularity in America, and increasing popularity in other parts of the world.

Seriously I could write, debate, and learn more about it every day and not grow bored of the subject.

So when I happened upon this article from Salon I had to share it.

It sets out to essentially understand what is behind the increase secularization in America today.

It does discuss the Atheist movement led by Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and others, as well as the Catholic church scandals, the rise of the internet, and a few other contributing factors.

However the one that caught my eye was this one:

For starters, we can begin with the presence of the religious right, and the backlash it has engendered. Beginning in the 1980s, with the rise of such groups as the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition, the closeness of conservative Republicanism with evangelical Christianity has been increasingly tight and publicly overt. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, more and more politicians on the right embraced the conservative Christian agenda, and more and more outspoken conservative Christians allied themselves with the Republican Party. Examples abound, from Michele Bachmann to Ann Coulter, from Mike Huckabee to Pat Robertson, and from Rick Santorum to James Dobson. With an emphasis on seeking to make abortion illegal, fighting against gay rights (particularly gay marriage), supporting prayer in schools, advocating “abstinence only” sex education, opposing stem cell research, curtailing welfare spending, supporting Israel, opposing gun control, and celebrating the war on terrorism, conservative Christians have found a warm welcome within the Republican Party, which has been clear about its openness to the conservative Christian agenda. This was most pronounced during the eight years that George W. Bush was in the White House. 

What all of this this has done is alienate a lot of left-leaning or politically moderate Americans from Christianity. Sociologists Michael Hout and Claude Fischer have published compelling research indicating that much of the growth of “nones” in America is largely attributable to a reaction against this increased, overt mixing of Christianity and conservative politics. The rise of irreligion has been partially related to the fact that lots of people who had weak or limited attachments to religion and were either moderate or liberal politically found themselves at odds with the conservative political agenda of the Christian right and thus reacted by severing their already somewhat weak attachment to religion. Or as sociologist Mark Chaves puts it, “After 1990 more people thought that saying you were religious was tantamount to saying you were a conservative Republican. So people who are not Republicans now are more likely to say that they have no religion.”

These are very good points that I agree with wholeheartedly. 

In fact, as I have shared many times before, the factors above have quite a lot to do with your ability to visit this blog today.

It was in response to that Republican branding, and the attempt to paint themselves as the moral superior of every other political group, that pissed your favorite Alaskan blogger off so much that he started channeling his frustration through a keyboard.

However as much as I agree with authors about how the Republican Religious Right poisoned the well, I still think that without the internet we would not be seeing the changes we are witnessing today.

Anybody care to disagree?

Bill Maher finds himself disappointed with the new Pope again.

On his blog (Oh yes, he has one too!) Bill Maher decides that though he likes the new Pope, he simply cannot condone his praise for exorcists: 

Pope Francis has quickly established himself as the progressive Pope – not your father’s Holy Father. Early on, he said atheists can get into heaven. He’s expressed compassion for gays and even said that there’s a place for them in the Church. He’s affirmed the Big Bang Theory and evolution. He’s got a gambling problem he jokes about and it’s long been an open secret that he has a wife and three kids. 

But every time this Pope makes me think he’s dragging the Catholic Church kicking and screaming – like an altar boy into the rectory – into the modern, rational era, he goes and kicks it old school. The latest is that he met with and affirmed the work of the International Association of Exorcists, a group of 300 practicing Catholic exorcists. 

Embracing the idea that people are possessed by demons and that there are rituals to cast these demons out – that’s not just crazy, that’s Antonin Scalia crazy. I’d like to believe that Pope Francis doesn’t really believe this crap, but rather just feels he has to stay “on script.”

Like Maher I think a lot of people want to give Pope Francis the benefit of the doubt in the hopes that he is the level headed reformer that he seems to want to portray himself to be. 

However that is simply impossible when you realize that the Pope still supports some of the church's most egregious dogma as well as the idea that people can literally be possessed by invisible magical creatures that exist to spread evil and torment mankind.

Here is what the Pope said back in October: 

Pope Francis has told a convention of exorcists from around the world that they are doing sterling service in combating "the Devil's works", as the Catholic Church warned of a rise in Satanism and the occult. 

The Pope, who frequently cites the fight against Satan in his sermons, said that exorcists needed to show "the love and welcome of the Church for those possessed by evil". By treating people who were possessed, priests could demonstrate that "the Church welcomes those suffering from the Devil's works," he said in a message to a conference organised in Rome by the International Association of Exorcists.

On an almost daily basis I interact with, and treat, individuals with behaviors that two hundred years ago would surely have seen them beaten into submission (Spare the rod, spoil the child.), locked up in a sanitarium for their entire lives, or terrorized by a religious nut who would tell them that the source of their problems lies in their lack of faith and the fact that they have allowed themselves to become a dwelling place for evil.

Today we treat with patience, medications, and behavior modifications, people who would have received the kind of treatment that even farm animals were spared hundreds of years ago.

The idea that this Pope continues to promote this superstitious nonsense rips away any facade that he is reasonable or modern in his thought process.

Highest ranking Vatican official ever investigated for sex abuse found to have tens of thousands of child porn videos and pictures on his computer.

Courtesy of the International Business Times: 

A former Vatican archbishop accused of paedophilia stored tens of thousands of child porn videos and photos on a computer in his office at the Holy See diplomatic compound in the Dominican Republic, it has emerged. 

Details of Jozef Wesolowski's massive child porn stash have been revealed after the 66-year-old was arrested at the Vatican earlier this week. 

He is the highest-ranking Vatican official ever to be investigated for sex abuse, and the first top papal representative to receive a defrocking sentence. He has been charged with sexually abusing minors and child porn possession and might face up to seven years in the Vatican's tiny jail. 

Vatican detectives analysed the PC Wesolowski used in his office in Santo Domingo, where he served as Holy See envoy from 2008 to 2012 as part of an investigation into the alleged sexual abuse of underage boys. 

The probe reportedly revealed a collection of horrors. The Polish native held more than 100,000 sexually-explicit files, Il Corriere della Sera newspaper reported. 

Some 160 videos showing teenage boys forced to perform sexual acts on themselves and on adults and more than 86,000 pornographic photos were meticulously archived in several category-based folders, the paper said. 

Investigators said that at least another 45,000 pictures were deleted, while a second stash of material was found on a laptop Wesolowski used during his trips abroad.

You know I think we are WAY past the time when we can simply chalk all of these Catholic priest sex crimes to a mere coincidence that so many pedophiles decided on their own to enter the priesthood simply as a way to keep themselves away from temptation or to fight their "sinful" urges through prayer, and to entertain the possibility that some of them either entered the priesthood well aware that they could satisfy their urges behind the protection of the church, or that they were in fact recruited by other pedophile priests in order to develop a brotherhood who would watch each others backs.

There is a database of publicly accused priests in the United States alone. And if you visit it you are immediately overwhelmed by the vast number of priests who have been accused of sexually abusing minors in this country. And of course that does not take into account the even larger number of accused or convicted priests from all around the world.

At this point it just seems to me that this was an organization that not only accepted a certain deviant lifestyle, but may in fact have welcomed it or, dare I say, promoted it.

Just for a moment ask yourself whether or not if this same scandal had befallen a Fortune 500 company, famous sports team, or political party, would any of those have manged to survived intact?

In my opinion, no.

And the fact that the Catholic church still stands, and continues to reveal that it is infested with this type of individual, I think speaks to the fact that the church leaders have really done nothing to rid themselves of any potential predators and have instead simply closed ranks and hidden behind the cloak of religious authority which has protected them for centuries.

And if something does not change there are undoubtedly more children who will suffer at the hands of an unrepentant organization that cares more for its access to power and reputation as a religious juggernaut than it does for those it claims to want to protect and steer toward a sinless life.

Republicans block resolution to congratulate Pope Francis because he is "too liberal" and "sounds like Obama."

Courtesy of Raw Story:

A bipartisan congressional resolution that would honor Pope Francis before his potential appearance in Philadelphia next year may not be acted upon because of Republican worries that the pontiff is perceived as being “too liberal,” The Hill reports. 

House Resolution 440 aims to “congratulate Pope Francis on his election and recognize his inspirational statements and actions,” but according to one Republican backer of the legislation, the resolution is dead because Pope Francis is “sounding like Obama. [The pope] talks about equality — he actually used the term ‘trickle-down economics,’ which is politically charged.” 

Republicans are upset because of comments the Pope made concerning the free market. Last November, for example, Francis published his Evangelii Gandium, in which he noted that “[a]s long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality, no solution will be found for the world’s problems or, for that matter, to any problems.” 

He also specifically attacked President Ronald Reagan’s signature economic policy, “trickle-down theory,” writing that “[s]ome people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system.”

Well hell if he attacked Saint Ronnie then obviously the Republicans cannot support him in anyway. 

After all there are religious icons, and the there are RELIGIOUS ICONS!

I have to say I find it pretty damn funny that the Republicans, who have ALWAYS kissed up to the Pope, are now shunning him because some of the things he says are too much like something Jesus might say.

And let's face if it is a contest between Jesus and his holiness the Reagan, Jesus doesn't stand a chance.

Not sure if pedophilia is a crime? Just things Catholic Archbishops say.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson testified last month that he wasn’t sure whether it was illegal for priests to have sex with children while he served as chancellor of the St. Paul and Minneapolis archdiocese. 

The former chancellor gave a deposition last month in a lawsuit that claims the Minnesota archdiocese and the Diocese of Winona created a public nuisance by keeping information on abusive priests secret, reported Minnesota Public Radio. 

The 69-year-old Carlson also faces a massive clergy abuse lawsuit in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, where he’s served as archbishop since 2009. 

One document made public in that case shows more than 100 priests and church employees have been accused of sexual abuse, and the Missouri Supreme Court ordered the archdiocese to turn over their names under seal. 

The Minnesota lawsuit was filed by a man who claimed a priest abused him during the 1970s, and Carlson told the plaintiff’s attorneys that his understanding of those accusations had changed over the years. 

“I’m not sure whether I knew it was a crime or not,” Carlson said. “I understand today it’s a crime.”

The accuser’s attorneys asked Carlson whether he knew in 1984, when he was an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, that it was illegal for priests to have sex with children. 

“I’m not sure if I did or didn’t,” Carlson said. 

How is it possible that somebody did not realize that raping young children was against the law in 1984 and was deserving of punishment?

In 1984 I was 24 years old and knew full well what was, and was not wrong or illegal.

And the thing that really burns my ass is that these people are supposed to instruct the rest of us as to what is, or is not good or evil. They are the arbiters of morality for fuck's sake.

The very fact that this idiot did not think that raping a child rose to the level of criminal activity demonstrates why NOBODY should take moral or ethical advice from the Catholic church.

Irish priest says we cannot judge the nuns who dumped the bodies of almost 800 children and babies because it happened in the past.

I am sure that you all remember the story I posted Thursday about The home for unwed mothers, run by the Bon Secours Sisters that was found to have dumped just under a thousand infants and children into a mass grave next to their septic system as if they were nothing more than human waste.

Well as it turns out a Father Fintan Monaghan, a spokesperson for the archdiocese in which this tragedy took place, had a response to this story: 

“I suppose we can’t really judge the past from our point of view, from our lens. All we can do is mark it appropriately and make sure there is a suitable place here where people can come and remember the babies that died.”

Yes of course we cannot judge past events based on modern levels of revulsion can we?

In that case we really have no right to judge the American slave owners who fought a war to preserve their right to subjugate human beings, or Nazis who felt that genocide was an appropriate response to their antisemitism, or how can we possibly prosecute criminals thirty years after they murdered somebody, I mean it was such a long time ago and all.

Remember the nuns ran this home for unwed mothers from 1926 to 1961, which was a year after my birth. That is NOT ancient history!

Not only that but the bodies were first discovered by two boys in 1975, yet the response by the church was to have a priest pray over the mass grave and then cover it back up.

That is fucking reprehensible!

And I am not alone in my anger.

Here is what reporter for the Guardian, Emer O'Toole, had to say about this revelation:

 Do not say Catholic prayers over these dead children. Don't insult those who were in life despised and abused by you. Instead, tell us where the rest of the bodies are. There were homes throughout Ireland, outrageous child mortality rates in each. Were the Tuam Bon Secours sisters an anomalous, rebellious sect? Or were church practices much the same the country over? If so, how many died in each of these homes? What are their names? Where are their graves? We don't need more platitudinous damage control, but the truth about our history.

Atheist or not, to that I only have to say "Amen!"

(H/T to the Friendly Atheist.)

Exorcisms on the rise. So nice when the 17th century stops by for a visit, don't you think?

Courtesy of Slate:

This spring, a new school for exorcists opened in Illinois. The Pope Leo XIII Institute for the “education & training of priests in the holy ministry of exorcism and deliverance” was launched at the Mundelein Seminary in February — when the first cohort of trainees arrived for a 10-day seminar. For just $1,500 (plus $960 room and board; check and credit card accepted; donations welcome and tax-deductible), priests received instruction from some top exorcists — using a curriculum that was reportedly pre-approved by a committee of credentialed bishops. 

The time was ripe. Just a month before the school’s quiet opening, headlines the world over broadcast news that exorcism is back. The Catholic Church is training a new class of priests to perform exorcisms: allegedly, to meet a growing public demand. “Diabolical possessions are on the increase as a result of people subscribing to occultism,” noted Father Francesco Bamonte, president of the Italy-based International Association for Exorcists. “The few exorcists that we have in the dioceses are often not able to handle the enormous number of requests for help.”

So to be clear, there are parishioners asking for help with mental illness, depression, or some other easily identified  malady, and in response priests are frightening them into believing they are possessed and then offering to traumatize them by subjecting them to a ritual that should only find acceptance on a movie screen.  

Catholic priests who have spoken openly about exorcism tout a predictable line, as reported by the Telegraph in January: “The rise in demonic cases is a result of more people dabbling in practices such as black magic, paganism, Satanic rites and Ouija boards, often exploring the dark arts with the help of information readily found on the internet.” Never mind that I haven’t seen a Ouija board since the ’90s — the church says, as the church has said for decades, that our spiritually plastic ways are guiding us into Satan’s den. 

Other observers point to the growing influence of Pentecostalism, with its direct and physical experience of Godc—cor films like “The Rite” (2011), which was based on a real American priest. 

Exorcism is “the practice of expelling evil spirits.” By popular accounts, crazy things happen when those demons are given the boot: “There are foul smells, vomiting, foaming at the mouth, foul language, psychological attack as well as a physical attack, languages you’ve never heard, items flying across the room (what we call poltergeist activity) … voices that sound like they came out of ‘The Exorcism’ movie,” Rev. Steven Maness, a New Jersey-based exorcist, tells me. 

In theory, only Catholic priests with permission from superiors can conduct exorcisms. But recent decades have given rise to gaggles of rogue agents — many of whom charge a hefty fee for their services, as opposed to affiliated priests who usually claim to exorcise for free. Some speculate that the church’s new exorcism push is an attempt to steal back authority from these unaffiliated mavericks. It’s “a response to public demand, but it’s also about quality control,” John Allen, an author and Vatican expert, noted in January. “A lot of it is fairly dodgy theoretically — they are self-appointed exorcists running around purporting to be acting on behalf of the Church.” In 2008, a senior Italian priest made £3 million ($5 million) by performing unsanctioned exorcisms at his “House of the Sainted Archangels” in Florence.

Oh I see. So the movie industry frightens impressionable people into believing in demonic possession and then religiously garbed charlatans make money off of their ignorance and pain.

The correct thing to do when you meet somebody claiming to be possessed by a demon is to get them immediate psychological counseling, NOT exacerbate their condition while profiting off of their illness.  

Go ahead, somebody ask me again what I find objectionable about religion.

This constantly burns my ass.

In fact both men used the church to gain power, and Stalin even studied for the priesthood.

They used religion to gain power, and once they had that power they stripped the church of influence, in order to protect that power.

Neither were driven by Atheism, they were driven by megalomania.