This week: How the Vatican is changing tactics and trying to distance themselves away from pedophile priests, why I dream of swimming in a bevy of bitches (even if it means getting eaten in the process), and why the human race is ultimately doomed! It’s 54 minutes of TGA goodness, so don’t miss out.
In an attempt to try and divert attention away from the fact he knowingly conspired to protect child rapists from prosecution, Pope Benedict XVI called out abortion and same sex marriage as being “insidious and dangerous”, two adjectives which actually effectively describe his OWN organization (but of course that’s a different rant altogether).
He came close to admitting some sort of culpability for the actions of the church (admitting to “sins within the church), but he was smart enough not to be specific about what that entailed exactly. Actually, Ratzinger, there was more than just “sinning” going on; child rape is actually a crime, which is why the rest of the world who doesn’t buy into your bullshit religion is so angry at you. If you were the CEO of any other institution, you’d be on the receiving end of a beating in a “pound me in the ass” style prison. But because millions of delusional idiots think you’re God’s special little avatar, the rest of the world is reluctant to do what’s right.
I’m looking forward to the day when needlessly blaming gays for society’s problems will be correctly seen as blatantly bigoted and wrong. Until then, these cross-dressing, reality denying fuck-faces will continue to fill our airwaves and newspapers with their evil rhetoric. Isn’t life grand?
The Hitch is back with more on the Pope, this time with a well thought out article in Newsweek entitled ‘Bring the Pope to Justice’. I feel like a lot of the writing out there regarding this whole scandal haven’t done a great job of pinning down just how shamefully complicit the Vatican has been in all this. Well, it doesn’t get more obvious or well laid out than this:
In 2002, I happened to be on Hardball With Chris Matthews, discussing what the then attorney general of Massachusetts, Thomas Reilly, had termed a massive cover-up by the church of crimes against children by more than a thousand priests. I asked, why is the man who is prima facie responsible, Cardinal Bernard Law, not being questioned by the forces of law and order?
This point must have hung in the air a bit, and perhaps lodged in Cardinal Law’s own mind, because in December of that year he left Boston just hours before state troopers arrived with a subpoena seeking his grand-jury testimony. Where did he go? To Rome, where he later voted in the election of Pope Benedict XVI and now presides over the beautiful church of Santa Maria Maggiore, as well as several Vatican subcommittees.
In my submission, the current scandal passed the point of no return when the Vatican officially became a hideout for a man who was little better than a fugitive from justice. By sheltering such a salient offender at its very heart, the Vatican had invited the metastasis of the horror into its bosom and thence to its very head. It is obvious that Cardinal Law could not have made his escape or been given asylum without the approval of the then pontiff and of his most trusted deputy in the matter of child-rape damage control, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
At every single turn they have made denials, withheld information, covered up, and obfuscated the truth. We all know countless people in power within the church have had many, many, many opportunities to do the right thing and bring these child rapists to justice. But they never did. In fact, they did the exact opposite.
One of the many victims of Fr. Lawrence Murphy (the guy who molested over 200 deaf kids) has filed a lawsuit against the Pope in the hopes to uncover how much the Vatican did know about the abuse, and how they went about covering it up. The plaintiff, whose identity has been concealed, doesn’t want any money; he just wants justice for his life having been ruined by the sexual torture he had to endure.
I’m curious to see how the Vatican is going to react to this lawsuit. My guess is the standard “deny everything and hope everything blows over” response they’ve been so forthcoming with recently. If that fails, they’ll probably try to blame gays, or better yet, the secularization of society for creating an environment of depravity or something (even their mindless attacks don’t always make much sense). What a bunch of swell guys!
Two things about Pope Benedict’s planned visit to Malta have me smiling a bit; (1) the mayor of a small town has asked that a statue which looks like a dick be removed at the local airport for fear of offending the pontiff, and (2) a graffiti artist stenciled a few “pedobears” on the billboard marking his arrival, and the local news people have no idea what it implies. In case you’re hopelessly out of the loop, it’s a classic internet meme that was birthed in the often vile and twisted world of 4chan, and it’s a comedic reference to pedophilia (sometimes you have to laugh in order not to cry). The artist has succeeded in both confusing mainstream news sources while delighting us “hip” internet folks with his civil disobedience.
It looks like someone is finally taking a stand against Pope Benedict XVI for his role in covering up the abuse of children, and it’s none other than atheist superstar Richard Dawkins. Along with Christopher Hitchens, the pair is trying to see if they can get the UK government to arrest the pontiff when he comes to visit in September to beatify some 19th century theologian no one actually gives a shit about. Since the Vatican isn’t actually recognized by the UN as it’s own state, he wouldn’t be able to claim diplomatic immunity, making his arrest a real possibility. Now all they need to find is a prosecutor with some balls, and then we can all sit back and witness something spectacular; a religious leader actually being held responsible for his actions.
Now before we all get too excited, you have to wonder what the backlash from this is going to be. There are still lots of Catholics willing to defend Benedict no matter how guilty he is for the simple reason they are convinced as an avatar of God, he is quite literally infallible. Luckily, the Vatican seems to be in complete denial over the seriousness of these allegations, so my guess is they won’t even take this threat seriously until it’s too late.
I’m not sure how all of this is going to go down, but with Dawkins on the case, it’s safe to say he isn’t going to let this thing slide that easily. Good luck you beautiful British bastard!
Welcome back to another episode of The Good Atheist Podcast. On today’s show, Ryan and I talk about the Pope and his inability to accept reality, why NZ still has a lot of growing up to do, why Americans are still crazy, and how Thomas Paine never got a break (or why pamphlets used to be awesome).
It must be nice to not have to answer to any authority whatsoever when you’ve committed a series of heinous crimes. While the secular world tries to grow enough balls to bring Pope Benedict XVI to justice (I really wouldn’t hold my breath, people), the pontiff is still free to try and play down the seriousness of the allegations against him and other senior officials in the Vatican. Recently, the Pope sent out a broadcast on Vatican radio praying for the victims of earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, and for “all the victims of child abuse”.
Isn’t just like a Christian to do something wrong and then ask for forgiveness? It’s a lot easier than actually bothering to do the right thing or actually bothering to pay for your crimes. Hey, don’t they believe a 2000 year old dead Jewish guy has already paid for their past and future sins? Must be nice to not have to deal with anything and instead beg some invisible sky-daddy to be absolved.
During his address, he stated “From God comes the courage not to be intimidated by petty gossip”. Yes, I’m sure it takes a lot of courage for you to simply ignore your role in furthering abuse by priests, and harboring them from prosecution. You’re so brave! All that “petty gossip” about hundreds and thousands of kids being abused must really bother you when you’re enjoying all the luxuries afforded by your position.
Every time this sack of shit opens his mouth, he’s sending a big “fuck you” to the rest of the world that doesn’t believe in his fairytale bullshit. We’re too damn gutless here in the West to do anything about it, lest it offend people of “religious faith”. Yep, because he’s a religious leader, we’ll kick up some dust and condemn his actions, but it’s doubtful we’ll have the balls to do much more. If we could finally start standing up to these religious loonies, we would live in a much different world, that’s for damn sure.
Yes, I’ve always wanted to use a headline like this, and today seemed like the perfect time to do it. Plus it helps that it’s completely true; the New York Times has supposedly come up with definitive evidence that Ratzinger was not only aware of Reverend Peter Hullerman (formerly known only as “H”) had molested children and, rather than notify authorities, simply transferred him to another parish despite a letter saying he was still a potential “danger”.
Of course, the problem here is no one is going to do anything about this. The only way he can get fired is if his Invisible friend in the sky decides he needs to go, and since he’s supposedly a voice only Ratzinger can hear, I have a feeling “Sky-man” won’t call for his resignation anytime soon. Would you want to stop living in the biggest and most luxurious palace in the world? He eats on gold plates for fuck’s sake; that was pimp even back in the Middle Ages.
You have to wonder what kind of weird power struggles go on in the Vatican. I mean, it can’t please everyone Pope Benedict is dragging the whole church into the ground, and even though they can’t force him to resign, there still has to be a lot of folks within the halls of power who never liked him in the first place. It’s just like high school, except the prom queen used to be a Hitler Youth.
After a 2 week break, The Good Atheist Bonus show is back, and in full form. This week, Ryan and I answer a fan question about how to deal with the death of a loved one, and why we have ‘relationships’ with them even after they die. Also on the agenda, we continue to talk about the insane controversy in the Vatican over Pope Benedict’s willful protection of known pedophiles
Imagine this hypothetical situation: you’re implicated in a child molestation scandal in your powerful and influential organization, and the whole world eagerly anticipates your response to these allegations. Would your strategy be to issue an ambiguous “apology” for the suffering of the victims followed by laying blame a completely esoteric scapegoat? The only way you could ever get away with such weaksauce is to command the only position in the world where it’s absolutely impossible to be fired (and I’m not talking about a Supreme Court judge here, people). I’m referring of course to the Pope, who’s been under intense scrutiny since it was revealed that under his watch, a rapist pastor who forced a young boy to give him oral sex was whisked to a variety of parishes where, unsurprisingly, he offended again.
The Vatican’s pastoral letter to the victims of child rape reads as follows:
“You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry, Many of you found that, when you were courageous enough to speak of what happened to you, no one would listen”
Tell them something they don’t know, Razty. This pathetic attempt to sweep everything under the rug is followed by the usual “we promise to try and do something secretly on our own, and just trust us we’ll make this all go away” bullshit that’s been the M.O. of the Church since the whole mess started. You might recall Pope Benedict XVI was the one responsible in the 80′s of “sniffing” out molesters, and he did such a bang up job that one of the people helped him become Pope was none other than Archbishop Bernard Francis Law of Boston (known primarily for his involvement in covering up the abuse scandal in that state).
The most nauseating thing in all of this is at the end of his bullshit apology, Benedict blames secularism on the declining morality of society in general (where do they get their stats?). Not only is it baffling (does he think this would have been avoidable if society was more religious?), it’s also just more scapegoating. The Church used to do the same thing with Jews until that went terribly out of “fashion”. Now secularism and homosexuality are their new targets. Hey, when you can’t take responsibility for your own actions, blame someone else entirely! It’s the formula they’ve been using for centuries, and it’s not about to stop any time soon, people.
This week, Ryan and I discuss the controversy surrounding Pope Benedict XVI and his involvement in the shuffling of a pedophile priest in the 1980’s, as well as discuss the idea that atheists and secularists in general will be out-bred by our religious counterparts. Also on a side note, we elaborate on how terrible I am at telling time.
It should come as no surprise that any large and powerful organization always “looks out for their own”. The Catholic Church is no different; the whole controversy regarding child abuse is based around the fact that rather than punish their own members who were guilty of destroying the lives of innocent children, they instead kept everything quiet, transferring these offenders to different parishes where they would continue their campaign of sexual molestation.
The Pope keeps finding himself in the uncomfortable position of having to deny any knowledge of protecting church leaders who had a history of abusing children, but it’s now a bit harder to do so. A priest, identified only as “H” (you’ve got to love their transparency) known to have forced a young child into oral sex, was transferred under the watchful eye of one Cardinal Ratzinger in 1980. To no ones surprise, he offended again, and was given an 18-month suspended sentence and fined about 4,000 bucks (apparently, sexually molesting a kid will cost you the equivalent of a used Segway).
The Vatican is obviously trying to distance him from this decision, saying Ratzinger was unaware of the existence of this priest (he’s a shitty boss, I guess), and I’m sure his mindless fans will continue to believe he had no involvement whatsoever, regardless of what evidence is shown. It doesn’t matter how many times this organization is exposed as corrupt and evil; people will continue to believe their religious leaders piss Holy Water. Look, they’re only human, and yet their position allows them an unprecedented amount of power and influence, all based on the ignorant notion these individuals are somehow on “God’s speed-dial”. They are no more special than you and I, and they should not be immune from prosecution and the law. When will victims of the abuse of the Catholic Church finally see justice?
It seems as though the Vatican is unable to mind their own damn business, as they’ve recently opposed a piece of legislation in the UK commonly known as the “Equity Bill”. The Bill itself seems to focus on trying to tackle discrimination in workplaces, for anything ranging from age, race, gender, and (more importantly for the church) sexual orientation.
Now the Pope may be an evil scumbag, but he’s no fool; the wording he’s used to condemn this has been carefully crafted to make it look like they are only trying to defend the rights of Catholics. They say they are worried the Government would force them to employ women as priests, or worse, force their adoption agencies to allow homosexuals to have children (oh no! We can’t send them these kids to a loving home!). It’s not surprising, however, that their rhetoric doesn’t usually make any sense once you begin to scrutinize it:
“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.”
But there is a misunderstanding: sometimes in government legislation equality seems to mean that we are all absolutely equal, which we are not. We are equal in dignity.
What the fuck does that mean exactly? Does it mean we can deny some people the same basic rights as others with our heads held high? What is dignity if it plays no role in deciding how fairly and equitably we treat our fellow human beings? This is the problem with religious folks who believe in an ancient and out of date dogma; in their eyes, homosexuals and women are not on par with men, and any laws which grants these folks the same rights as heterosexual males is seen as abhorrent.
In the next few days the Catholic bishops of England and Wales will issue a further challenge to Mr Brown and the other political parties in a “religious manifesto”, or pre-election document, that will build on more than a century of Catholic social thought to argue for religious freedom, as well as care for the poor and deprived.
This is the new way the church tries to spin their obvious homophobia and misogyny; they mask it under the rhetoric of helping the poor and deprived, but ignore their basic supposition, which is that homosexuals and women don’t deserve the same rights as others. That’s it. They can write a whole manifesto tooting their own horn, but it doesn’t change the fact they have no fucking business telling a foreign nation what laws it should or should not pass. Stick to talking to your invisible friend in the sky, and leave the rest of us alone, thanks.
(props to Simon for the find)
The Vatican has been considering canonizing Pope Piux XII, and this has created tensions within the Jewish community. You see, back in 1933, the Vatican signed an agreement (called the Reichskonkordat) that officially recognized the Nazi party, effectively legitimizing its anti-Semitic stance. It was the only religious institution to do so, and this fact still haunts the Catholic Church. It’s seen by many as a giant betrayal, and with Benedict now claiming the Vatican “helped Jews in a discreet way“, he’s effectively trying to rewrite history without so much as a shred of proof (the help was so discreet there isn’t a shred of evidence to back it up).
It’s a pretty popular tactic nowadays to just say shit and not have to back it up. Some in the Jewish community are asking the Vatican to make public their records on Pius XII, but of course they’ll do no such thing; why should they? Here is an institution which claims to be infallible, so as far as they are concerned, Popes are always doing the right thing. Pius’ appeasement of the Nazis, and his failure to denounce the Holocaust is a sore wound that will probably never be healed.
I’m not suggesting the Catholic Church and the Jewish community shouldn’t keep working on improving their relations, but why is this coming at the cost of the truth? Benny can try to bullshit his flock into buying the idea they were “discreetly helping the Jews”, but the rest of us who aren’t blinded by faith goggles can see through the steaming pile of bullshit he’s peddling.
