I would argue that science is the best method we have of keeping our beliefs honest by constant examination of the data -- and that data as concerns the cohabitation of couples, or triples for that matter does not in any way suggest that the Holy Father's predictions are based on what happens in this world when such things are not prohibited by law or even custom.
“This is not a simple social convention, but rather the fundamental cell of every society. Consequently, policies which undermine the family threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself,”
he said to some 180 diplomats at the Vatican yesterday. The education of children needs proper “settings” and “pride of place goes to the family, based on the marriage of a man and a woman.” I'm not quite sure that personal pride in being traditional and obedient to dogma constitutes justification for regulating private life in a free society, but then a free society is the definition of a heretical society and it wasn't long ago that Catholics were threatened with excommunication for voting for political leaders. I'm sure the rationalization for that was much the same farrago of gold embroidered, incense scented rubbish as was the persecution of Galileo and the scientists of the Renaissance -- to cite the less egregious examples.
The fact is, that children raised by gay couples can't be shown to have turned out as Benedict predicts and since gay people have been around since the dawn of humanity and a bit before -- and long before the shaman, that oldest of professions, told them they were evil -- we can assume that human dignity hasn't been much affected. The indignities of the Crusades and Inquisitions and centuries of war and tyranny might have done some harm, but I won't go into that here.
As I said, science rejects propositions, predictions and proclamations that do not produce the results claimed. I might suggest Mein Herr, that there's a bit of egg on your face and blood on your robes from trying to stifle that heresy with force of arms, torture and murder, but so far, nothing you or your predecessors have predicted has ever been demonstrated to be the truth. So how long caro padre, will you go on predicting that if we do A, then B will happen, because we've been doing A for a hell of a long time and there's no sign of you being right so far.
Capt. Fogg,
ReplyDeleteThe basis of the papal pronouncement seems to be that "The Gay" is a communicable disease -- yes, if you let them marry, there will be more and more and more! It's an embarrassingly primitive way of thinking that has been so thoroughly debunked that anybody above eight years old ought to be ashamed to espouse it.
Gays and lesbians are and will no doubt remain a relatively small percentage of the world's population; letting them be as they are and live as they wish isn't going to have any effect on the viability of civilization. Anybody who thinks otherwise is talking ridiculous and most likely promoting an absolutist agenda.
Unless the pope can produce evidence that shows that allowing consenting adults to marry the person of their choice will bring death and destruction as fanatical religionist did by flying planes into buildings or shoving non-Xtian men, women, and children into ovens, then I'll believe the old guy. But since I am fully confident that neither he nor anyone will be able to match religious fanatics in their blood lust for death and destruction, I won't hold my breath.
ReplyDeletePapal hyperbole ad hypocrisy at its worst! Reminds me of all those who warn like some crazed soothsayers that gay marriage will undermine the institution of marriage. I suppose that the pope doesn't have a subscription to People magazine or Entertainment Weekly. I'd like to hear his observations as to whether or not the dissolution of Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries' 72 days of wedded bliss threatens the future of humanity.
ReplyDeleteI eagerly await Benedict's commentary on the impact of divorce, infidelity, and spousal abuse on the future of humanity. Well, not too eagerly as it is likely that hell will freeze over before he makes such a grand pronouncement. Besides, his time would be better spent engaging in some serious mea culpas for the Church's own transgressions against humanity, unless he believes that child molestation does not threaten human dignity.
I swear that damn "n" key sticks whenever I try to type that pesky conjunction, "and"!
ReplyDeleteImbedded inside this article, Pope Benedict: Gay Marriage A Threat To 'Future Of Humanity,' I found this:
ReplyDelete“One leading opponent of gay marriage in the United States is New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, whom the pope will elevate to cardinal next month.
Dolan fought against gay marriage before it became legal in New York state last June, and in September he sent a letter to President Barack Obama criticising his administration's decision not to support a federal ban on gay marriage.
In that letter Dolan, who holds the powerful post of president of the U.S. Bishops Conference, said such a policy could "precipitate a national conflict between church and state of enormous proportions [my bold].”
I am hard pressed trying to decide which aspect of this report offends me more, church policy against gay marriage or an insinuation of church authority over secular law. Perhaps the good Archbishop should read the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution and pay closer attention to the anti-establishment clause.
A conflict between church and state? I thought this argument was settled hundreds of years ago, and the Church lost.
Sheria,
ReplyDelete"Besides, his time would be better spent engaging in some serious mea culpas for the Church's own transgressions against humanity,"
Forsooth.
Octo,
the church(es) have great patience and people have no grasp of history. The progress we've made since the medieval period has mirrored the wane of Church influence over government, the courts and freedom. It's not a coincidence. For all the howling about Muslims seeking a new world caliphate, these thugs in dresses have never given up on doing the very same.
Humans do not handle the concept of God well at all, which is a sufficient argument for turning such things over to the Theropods and cephalopods (if not the gastropods, since they're too slow.)
When it comes to authority, it's hard to beat an allosaurus, so can we get together on this and proclaim habemus papa? In the name of the Dino, the Egg and the Pterodactyl, amen.
Capt.,
ReplyDeleteYes, we allosaurs say that where incisive thinking fails, incisors are all we need. The Dinosaur Gods have existed per omnia saecula saeculorum, and are a force in earth's history. I like the idea of a Dino "Santo Papa." He (or she) she even wear a robe (with appropriate tail-hole) and a delightfully pointy hat.
"should even wear"
ReplyDeleteIsn't it grand to be the Holy of Holies? You can make broad, dehumanizing, destructive and unsubstantiated proclamations and not worry at all about truth and love and compassion. When GOD is on your side how can you be wrong?
ReplyDeleteMaybe somebody should ask some kid who was beaten and tortured by his crack-whore mother's latest boyfriend and is now growing up with same sex parents in a safe and loving home. I wonder who that kid would choose if given the option.
I think "unsubstantiated proclamations" is the rock upon which churches are built (temples and mosques included)
ReplyDeleteGod cannot be tested of course, since not only would he fail every test, but by testing we'd begin not just to doubt, but to see that God and his evil twin the Devil are us and no better or worse than we are. Hence God is on everyone's side and therefore is simply useless when it comes to fixing the results of wars, political battles and football games.
Accepting the Allosaurus as our personal predator would certainly illustrate that God sees us as being all the same -- in this case as food -- which would end all this crusading and persecution and witch hunting. We'd be too busy running and we'd have to band together for once. I understand the Lord Lizard has a special fondness for the taste of clerics, by the way. Kind of like aged and moldy cheese I hear.