I refrain from disclosing my religion to new friends, as folks these days tend to glance sideways with an involuntary twitch of awkwardness at the mere mention of a devout individual.Behind frantic eyes, thoughts whir through the recesses of the mind: “Does he hate gay people? What if he finds out I’m on birth control? Is he not allowed to masturbate?!”
For the rampant anti-religious sentiment shared among today’s secular world, I tip my hat to none other than the face of my religion, Pope Benedict XVI.
His Holiness lacks an eye for inclusiveness, opting to piss off various Christian churches through his belief in universal primacy, a philosophy that dictates the supremacy of the Catholic Church and denies heavenly salvation to unapproved offshoots.
Pope Benedict sentences all members of different religions to an afterlife of misery. Catholics: 1, Protestants: 0.
The absurdity of the Pope’s dictum makes one’s head spin. The Pope enforces a juvenile schism frequently witnessed in grammar school gym class: the “winning” team versus the losers.
Mahatma Gandhi is conspicuously among those missing out.
With exclusive, regressive doctrines spewing forth annually from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the modern title of what was previously the Holy Office of the Inquisition, is it any wonder why Joy Behar slips in smug anti-Catholic jokes on The View?
Or why the average youth regards organized religion as an instrument of ignorance and intolerance?
Pope Benedict craves to uphold traditional morality in a secular world, but issuing commandments denying others their spiritual happiness is a tad counterproductive.
Proponents of the Pope’s actions maintain that he holds true to traditional teachings of the Church.
However, to justify any law on the basis of “maintaining tradition” is a questionable act.
Burning witches, practicing simony, and executing political opponents are antiquated customs of the Roman Catholic Church, originating from the historic belief in Catholic supremacy.
Ironically, the corruption of the early Roman Catholic Church contributed to the rise of separate Christian organizations—churches now denied heavenly entrance by the Pope.
We cannot afford to stay stuck in an age when religion justified everything from brutal warfare to atrocious torture.
As Thomas Jefferson noted, “we might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.”
In his eagerness to linger in antediluvian tradition, the Holy See misses reinforcing the most precious doctrine of all: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Does anything else really matter?
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Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce