Poor Pope Benedict XVI. Between his age (and increasing senility?) and having lived in the hermetically sealed bubble of the Vatican, he really has no clue that the world is changing and that religious based bigotry is increasingly unpopular in most advanced countries (the USA being an unfortunate exception, at least among GOP circles). Moreover, having headed the office once known as the Inquisition before becoming Pope, I suspect that there are few at the Vatican who dare tell him what he doesn't want to hear or accept. A case in point is Benedict's latest foot in mouth gaffe where he slammed the equality laws under consideration in the United Kingdom that would bar discrimination against gays and women. Here are some highlights from the Washington Post on this latest tempest: *
LONDON -- Pope Benedict XVI's condemnation this week of British equality legislation designed to protect gays and women in the workplace has deepened the battle lines between the Vatican and secularists, who demand that taxpayers not foot the security bill for his newly announced September visit.
*
The Roman Catholic Church's steadfast opposition to allowing gays to become priests or having rights such as adoption puts it at odds with changing attitudes in Britain, where acceptance of homosexuality has increased dramatically in recent decades.
*
The society [National Secular Society] said it would stage a film festival during Benedict's visit, featuring "The Magdalene Sisters," about Catholic nuns' harsh care of teenage mothers in Ireland, and "The Boys of St Vincent," about sexual abuse at a Catholic orphanage in Canada. Other protests are planned.
*
It's not the only conflict between Britons and the pontiff. Benedict recently surprised the Church of England by inviting traditionalist Anglicans who oppose women priests and bishops into the Roman Catholic fold, and riled Muslims four years ago by quoting a medieval description of the Prophet Muhammad's teachings as "evil and inhuman."
*
"What the pope, together with other religious leaders such as the (Church of England) bishops sitting in our own Parliament are actually seeking, is for religious people to be allowed to discriminate against others in employment, services, education and many other areas, unfettered by the laws that everyone else in society must abide by and respect," said Naomi Phillips of the British Humanist Association.
*
[T]here was a protest from Stephen Hughes, a European Parliament member from Brown's governing Labour Party. "As a Catholic, I am appalled by the attitude of the pope. Religious leaders should be trying to eradicate inequality, not perpetuate it," said Hughes, who urged the pope to ensure "that existing EU legislation is properly applied in the Vatican." Increasing numbers of Britons disagree with the Catholic church's view on homosexuality.
*
Someone needs to tell Benedict that we are no longer in the 13th century. If not, over time, I believe the Catholic Church will find itself losing members in modern nations and becoming a religion of the backward regions of the world where uneducated people still fall for Benedict's screeds. A letter to the editor in the Guardian seems to sum up what many British think:
*
I am a "cradle Catholic" who was sent to a monastic boarding school between the ages of nine and 17, and indoctrinated with the depressing fantasies of Catholic dogma. It took 20 years to shake off this miasma of lies; and although I never suffered sexual abuse, there is an abuse of a child's rights inherent in Catholic teaching, which regards all sexual activity as sinful, except when in the cause of procreation. This (apart from being absurd in itself, and revealing of the Vatican's terror of sexually active women) is a terrible burden to inflict upon adolescent boys. We were constantly reminded that masturbation was a "mortal sin", punishable by hell.
*
I agree with Richard Dawkins that the sexual crimes perpetrated by Irish priests upon some boys, although horrendous, were probably less damaging overall than the brainwashing of all such children with medieval superstitions. The abusive priests were themselves the hapless products of a system which hated sex and imposed an unnatural celibacy. We should think hard before encouraging any such "faith" schools: to indoctrinate children with narrow, non-rational ideas is itself an abuse of their right to have access to a balanced world-view and to evidence-based thought.
*
And now the pope has attacked British equality legislation on the grounds that it threatens the freedom of religious crackpots to hate and persecute homosexuals and women (Your equality laws are unjust, pope tells UK before his visit, 2 February). I see no reason why we should let this bigoted despot come to Britain; but if we do, I hope there will be massive and noisy demonstrations against him and everything he represents.
LONDON -- Pope Benedict XVI's condemnation this week of British equality legislation designed to protect gays and women in the workplace has deepened the battle lines between the Vatican and secularists, who demand that taxpayers not foot the security bill for his newly announced September visit.
*
The Roman Catholic Church's steadfast opposition to allowing gays to become priests or having rights such as adoption puts it at odds with changing attitudes in Britain, where acceptance of homosexuality has increased dramatically in recent decades.
*
The society [National Secular Society] said it would stage a film festival during Benedict's visit, featuring "The Magdalene Sisters," about Catholic nuns' harsh care of teenage mothers in Ireland, and "The Boys of St Vincent," about sexual abuse at a Catholic orphanage in Canada. Other protests are planned.
*
It's not the only conflict between Britons and the pontiff. Benedict recently surprised the Church of England by inviting traditionalist Anglicans who oppose women priests and bishops into the Roman Catholic fold, and riled Muslims four years ago by quoting a medieval description of the Prophet Muhammad's teachings as "evil and inhuman."
*
"What the pope, together with other religious leaders such as the (Church of England) bishops sitting in our own Parliament are actually seeking, is for religious people to be allowed to discriminate against others in employment, services, education and many other areas, unfettered by the laws that everyone else in society must abide by and respect," said Naomi Phillips of the British Humanist Association.
*
[T]here was a protest from Stephen Hughes, a European Parliament member from Brown's governing Labour Party. "As a Catholic, I am appalled by the attitude of the pope. Religious leaders should be trying to eradicate inequality, not perpetuate it," said Hughes, who urged the pope to ensure "that existing EU legislation is properly applied in the Vatican." Increasing numbers of Britons disagree with the Catholic church's view on homosexuality.
*
Someone needs to tell Benedict that we are no longer in the 13th century. If not, over time, I believe the Catholic Church will find itself losing members in modern nations and becoming a religion of the backward regions of the world where uneducated people still fall for Benedict's screeds. A letter to the editor in the Guardian seems to sum up what many British think:
*
I am a "cradle Catholic" who was sent to a monastic boarding school between the ages of nine and 17, and indoctrinated with the depressing fantasies of Catholic dogma. It took 20 years to shake off this miasma of lies; and although I never suffered sexual abuse, there is an abuse of a child's rights inherent in Catholic teaching, which regards all sexual activity as sinful, except when in the cause of procreation. This (apart from being absurd in itself, and revealing of the Vatican's terror of sexually active women) is a terrible burden to inflict upon adolescent boys. We were constantly reminded that masturbation was a "mortal sin", punishable by hell.
*
I agree with Richard Dawkins that the sexual crimes perpetrated by Irish priests upon some boys, although horrendous, were probably less damaging overall than the brainwashing of all such children with medieval superstitions. The abusive priests were themselves the hapless products of a system which hated sex and imposed an unnatural celibacy. We should think hard before encouraging any such "faith" schools: to indoctrinate children with narrow, non-rational ideas is itself an abuse of their right to have access to a balanced world-view and to evidence-based thought.
*
And now the pope has attacked British equality legislation on the grounds that it threatens the freedom of religious crackpots to hate and persecute homosexuals and women (Your equality laws are unjust, pope tells UK before his visit, 2 February). I see no reason why we should let this bigoted despot come to Britain; but if we do, I hope there will be massive and noisy demonstrations against him and everything he represents.
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