More Lies from Archbishop Dolan on New York Marriage Law

NARTH certainly doesn't have a monopoly on lying when it comes to religious institutions or their affiliated organizations. One huge liar is Archbishop Timothy "Porky Pig" Dolan of New York. Dolan continues to have a non-stop hissy fit that he and his fellow bitter old men in dresses have lost the ability to force their discriminatory views of same sex couples on all New Yorkers. From recent statements it is clear that Dolan is lying - and I'm sure he knows he's lying - in an effort to cast the Catholic Church as a victim and to dupe many of the sheep in the pews into supporting the Church's efforts to infuse religion into the civil laws. Bil Browning has a good take down of the porcine archbishop at The Bilerico Project. Here are some highlights:

Dolan also said that the bishops were deceived on the question of the protection of religious freedom in the final bill.

"We said the next thing will be we'll be sued if we don't do marriage, we're going to be harassed if we don't do receptions, we're going to be penalized if we don't allow adoption, we're going to be booed if we don't hire these people," Dolan told Arroyo.

Really quickly, let's look at Bishop Dolan's obvious lie in the second paragraph that the article tries to explain away. New York legislators didn't "lock the doors and not face any public." The vote was live-streamed, televised, and we posted several videos from inside of the Statehouse. It's just blatantly untrue.

Now, let's examine the heart of the matter one more time. This is where the bishop's unChristian attitudes come to the surface proudly. They might as well be waving a flag. A red flag.

Dolan is claiming that New York's marriage equality legislation doesn't include any religious exemptions and the church can be sued for refusing to officiate same-sex weddings. The New York Times, however, points us to the exact wording in the legislation that says the exact opposite of what the holy bishop is claiming. The article's title? Glad you asked. It's called "Religious Exemptions Were Key to New York Gay Marriage Vote."

The amendment that was passed stated that barring access to same-sex ceremonies, or failing to provide services for them, would not "result in any state or local government action to penalize, withhold benefits, or discriminate against such religious corporation, benevolent order, a not-for-profit corporation operated, supervised or controlled by a religious corporation."

For the second time in the short statement, Dolan blatantly lies.

The religious exemption would also give them the immunity to refuse to hold receptions on church property, but notice Dolan uses a different framing for this tidbit. He says the church will be "harassed." In other words, he knows that the church has the right to refuse to host a same-sex marriage reception; now he just doesn't want to be bothered by the people who would be upset at being discriminated against. They have no legal recourse, but the sound of their anger and dismay is apparently too much for the disciple of Christ to bear.

Next the holy man addresses the issue of gay adoption. While the Catholic church has repeatedly threatened to close adoption agencies if they had to abide by non-discrimination laws, no state has threatened to "penalize" them. The charities have all voluntarily closed their doors after refusing to provide homeless and parentless children loving homes if the parents are gay or lesbian.

Notice the language choice - "these people." Can you feel the distance between him and the "others" who are not like him? Isn't that the definition of bigotry - disliking others because they don't conform to your point of view or share common characteristics? There's not a rational basis for it; it's just you and then there's "them."

If you're looking for what the Catholic church truly feels about LGBT people, Archbishop Timothy Dolan leads the way. He doesn't think you should be able to have access to the church (deny marriage), your friends or family (deny receptions), doesn't think you're fit to be a parent (deny adoptions), and doesn't think you even deserve to have a job (deny employment opportunities).

If he cracked open the book he bases his religion on, he'd notice that Christ actually warned God's bureaucracy about their tendency to follow the letter of the law so closely that it obliterates the larger message of "love thy neighbor." He has become, by definition, a Pharisee instead. From Matthew 23:

13 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. [14]
...
25 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

27 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

Despite this blatant dishonesty and Pharisee like behavior on the part of the Church hierarchy, I still have people seem shocked that I left the Catholic Church. The bigger shock is that anyone who truly claims to follow the Gospel message can remain a Catholic given the sins of the Church leadership.