A few things have come over my computer in the past weeks, all relating to the repugnance of organized religion. Odd how when you spell check 'repugnance' you get 'Republican' in the list of options. Coincidence?
The first I am sure everybody has heard about by now. It is old news about some stupid inbred church in the stupid inbred backwoods of the cold dark state of Wisconsin. In this place, we have a less broken priest named John Hartwig who had the indecency of suggesting that within the Lutheran church, perhaps the fundamental belief that "women should not have authority over men" might not be ok. In response, the men men men in Authority at this particular church held a meeting to fire this
infidel evildoer priest at which women were not only not allowed to
vote, but were
not allowed to speak at the meeting either.
"While congregational leaders acknowledge Mr. Hartwig's fine administrative skills and recognize the personal admiration many parents have for him, our overriding concern is for maintaining sound biblical doctrine and practice," Fricke's said in a written statement.
Women who wanted to ask questions at the meeting were told to write them on a piece of paper and have a man read them aloud. But some, including Hartwig's own daughter, said their questions were never read.
So fuck these people in their little dark age church. I feel no desire for constructive criticism at this point...
Speaking of the Dark Ages, our friends at the Catholic church have risen to the challenge and provide us with two examples of just how craven and corrupt they are as an institution.
First we start with a favorite subject of the church - child abuse. More specifically the problems that the church seems to have with priests having sex with children, and the establishment covering up the acts. In an act of uncontrollable blovating, so brazen that even I was taken aback, the Bishop of Tenerife has taken to
blaming the victims of this abuse. From Pharyngula:
His comments were that there are youngsters who want to be abused, and he compared that abuse to homosexuality, describing them both as prejudicial to society. He said that on occasions the abuse happened because the there are children who consent to it.
"There are 13 year old adolescents who are under age and who are perfectly in agreement with, and what's more wanting it, and if you are careless they will even provoke you", he said.
This callus, disgusting attitude provoked a response from our friends at Pharyngula which I reproduce whole cloth since I can not do better myself:
Oh, it is so hard to be a noble heterosexual man in this society, with every woman, every gay man, every child, every moist orifice, every knothole, every small animal burrow on the ground, every lemon meringue pie, every velvety wrinkle in the Pope's cassock, all just taunting and teasing and tantalizing you, begging you to stick your penis in them. And then when you finally give in and let them have what they want, despite all your insistence that you're doing it for their benefit, not yours, what do they do? They cry rape, or lock you up for child abuse, or the Vatican dry cleaning service sends you an extravagant bill.
If only they would lock these bastards up, but somehow that never gets done.
Finally we move to Baltimore where the Catholic church is suing the city claiming
oppression because the city is forcing organizations providing services to pregnant women to be overt about the services they (do not) provide:
The ordinance requires that a "limited-service pregnancy center" post an easily readable sign, written in English and Spanish, stating that the center does not provide or make referrals for abortion or birth-control services. A center failing to comply within 10 days of being cited could be fined up to $150 a day.
We are talking about the sort of "services" providers who traditionally post "Pregnant, call us" signs then browbeat or delay services till carrying to term is the only option. I say screw the church for claiming oppression about not being able to lie to people about what is (not) being provided.
As a last tiny taste, here in WI (again!) there is a sheriff
threatening jail time to any sex ed teacher who talks about condoms:
The new law "promotes the sexualization - and sexual assault - of our children," Southworth wrote in a March 24 letter to officials in five school districts. He urged the districts to suspend their sex education programs and transfer their curriculum on anatomy to a science course.
"Forcing our schools to instruct children on how to utilize contraceptives encourages our children to engage in sexual behavior, whether as a victim or an offender," he wrote. "It is akin to teaching children about alcohol use, then instructing them on how to make mixed alcoholic drinks."
The sheriff Southworth, it typical spineless neocon jackoff gobldygook bullshit states:
He disputed claims by Roys and Grigsby that he was inciting fear in teachers or trying to promote his political views, saying he had an ethical obligation to tell districts his interpretation of the law.
"If I'd wanted to be ideological, I would have said in the letter you shouldn't have sex before marriage because that's the Christian perspective. I'm an evangelical," Southworth said.
What is wrong with these fucking people? Even after it has been proven that the sort of bullhsit abstinence only education increases pregnancy and the instance of STDs, we still have $250 Million in the upcoming 5 year budget for this program.
I can take this no longer.
