Friday, November 30, 2007

These dances and this kind of music can be destructive.

While I'm on the subject of religion-gone-wacky I'd point you towards Ratzinger's latest example of stupidity.


Pope Benedict XVI strongly criticized modern-day atheism in a major document released today, saying it had led to some of the "greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice" ever known to mankind.

Uh-huh. Because it was atheists who flew those buildings into the Twin Towers. It was an atheist President who saw it as his moral duty, ordained by God, to invade Iraq leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths. It's atheists who deny the importance of stem-cell research or the human contributions of global warming or the dignity of women or who refuse to acknowledge that the advancement of science can indeed ease human suffering.

Jackass.


Benedict sharply criticizes Marx and the 19th and 20th century atheism spawned by his revolution, although he acknowledges that both were responding to the deep injustices of the time.

This is going to sound trite but it shouldn't come as a shock to anyone that a former Hitler Youth has a problem with Marxism. I write this only to point out that maybe, just maybe, his moral objections to Marxism have a longer, more personal history than Ratzinger's ordination so many years ago.

As for lumping Nazism in with Marxism I have no doubt that Hitler was an atheist but I would like to point once again how much he co-opted Christianity into the Nazi state. (See here.)

Update- More religious craziness. Whether it's a blasphemous book, movie or name for a teddy-bear the faithful certainly do a good job of getting in every one's face when they don't fall into line.

6 comments:

Don Snabulus said...

Well, let's examine the Pope's* comments.

1. Atheism does not equal Marxism. That the Pope* tries to marry the two different concepts shows his dishonesty.

B. The Nazis had "God with us" on the belts of officer uniforms. The deductions for bad moral relativism are charged to Christ's team. What Hitler practiced in private is not relevant since he spouted Christianity in public.

3. Atheism has basically two anti-heroes: Stalin and Mao who stood a chance of keeping up with Hitler in body counts. Christianity has thousands of killers throughout history right up until today.

Finally. Just as a minor who molested another minor should never become a school teacher, so a Hitler Youth should never become Pope*.

E. I notice Ratzinger remains mostly silent regarding the sexual molestation scandals the Church has endured. "Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?" Matthew 7:3

* This Pope is a creature of politics, not a child of God. This is not a knock on Catholicism, but a finger pointing straight at the Pope**.

** See the single asterisk (*) for more details.

Overdroid said...

Actually none of us is a child of god. Because there is not god.

ladybug said...

This pope is a cranky old man who wishes Vatican II had never happened.

He's a throwback who's intent on destroying the remnants of the Catholic Left.

Dorothy Day would skewer him!

Swinebread said...

Throwback is right!

Anonymous said...

If the pope wants to talk about "cruely and violations of justice" he could discuss one of the worst genocides in human history, the decimation of the aboriginal peoples of the Americas, much of which was done in the name of the Roman Catholic church by the Spanish, Portuguese, and French.

And lets not forget that Adolf Hitler was raised Catholic.

And Ladybug is right abouth Dorothy Day. I doubt that Benedict has much tolerance for the "Catholic Worker".

Dean Wormer said...

don-

I agree with everything you write but especially this:

* This Pope is a creature of politics, not a child of God. This is not a knock on Catholicism, but a finger pointing straight at the Pope**.

Both the politics of the church and of the world. In either case Christianity was not involved.

LB-

Dorothy Day would skewer him!

Yes, she would.

I also think Doris Day was also his intellectual superior.

Aaron-

The church has a ridiculous amount of blood on it's hands. It only assumes true moral gravity when it recognizes and pushes through this rather than hiding it and pretending the church hierarchy holds moral superiority by default.