WTF?:
"On Friday the Catholic League reported that Thomas E. Foley, a Virginia delegate to the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Minneapolis has asked that increased security be considered for the event in light of Myers' threat to acquire and desecrate the Eucharist."
It's a cracker, people. It's a fucking cracker. Get over yourselves.
10 comments:
Yeah, but the cracker called security. : )
I am one of those people who don't think it's just a cracker, any more than a fallen veteran's monument is just concrete and cement, or your deceased grandmother's favourite blanket is just wool.
The way both sides are acting makes me wish a pox on both their houses. It reminds me the silly fights my sister and I had in the back seat of our car over which one of us got which side and where the line was. It's all meowing and hissing with no substance.
There are valid criticisms of Roman Catholicism and good philosophical debates over whether theism or anti-theism are correct but none of this is being aired here. Both sides need to grow up.
Toujoursdan: I thinks there's an imbalance in authority here. The Catholic hierarchy has access to powerful people and commands power itself. It seems like an abuse of this power for this issue to be focused on one relatively innocuous atheist (who, in most respects, is a very admirable person) who is speaking truth to power in the only way he can.
I'd much rather see a vocal condemnation of the hate, the death threats and the persecution campaign organised by the Catholic League than watch Catholics continue to debase their faith by insisting it is brittle and fragile and unable to withstand the desecration of a couple of communion wafers.
This is insane. And once again, I'm disappointed in the failure of leadership among our prominent institutions.
Toujoursdan: I thinks there's an imbalance in authority here. The Catholic hierarchy has access to powerful people and commands power itself.
This I do agree with. Perhaps being an Anglican I have never understood who authority works in Roman Catholicism. Disagreeing with my priest or bishop is not a big deal in my church. It's pretty obvious that the Catholic League is an uber-hysterical group looking for a reason to get offended.
It seems like an abuse of this power for this issue to be focused on one relatively innocuous atheist (who, in most respects, is a very admirable person) who is speaking truth to power in the only way he can.
This is where I have trouble. As a gay social progressive, I completely agree with the criticisms of the Roman Catholic Church, its "control freak" mentality and the way it attempts to bully the secular state into embracing its social policy, yet I am not sure that this is the only way someone can speak truth to power.
It isn't going to lead any Catholic to question the theological and social policy of the church, it just shuts down discussion and creates a bunker mentality. You don't stop your neighbour's obnoxious behaviour by burning their family photo album, claiming it's just paper and glue and telling them to get over it.
Speaking truth to power means directly confronting the abuses that are taking place, not just finding ways to offend the abuser.
Overreaction always ups the ante. And that is precisely the aim of the so-called "Catholic League" -- which, by th' way, represents no Catholics with whom I am familiar ( and that would be almost my entire family and an awful lot of my friends).
These fundie Catholics see the attention the fundie Muslims get over such inanities as cartoons, and they're jealous. They want the same level of attention. So they deliberately set themselves up as future martyrs-for-The-Cause. Can't do suicide bombing, so they'll do suicide protesting and hope that someone comes along all out of patience enough to beat the living crap outa one of them; then they'll be able to show off their bloodied noses and bruises and say, "See? We are too being discriminated against!"
These attempts at ramping up the hysteria to the point of bloodshed is so fucking stupid that I'm tempted to walk into the local church and abscond with an entire box of the damned crackers (it would be easy enough to do -- they keep them in the kitchen cupboard), take them to a high lookout, and threaten to throw them off the cliff, just to see how frenzied the ants' nest of lunacy can become.
yet I am not sure that this is the only way someone can speak truth to power.
It's not the only way, but it's one way.
And I approve of it. The Catholic Church needs shame and embarrassment before it does the right thing...which is to step in and censure the Catholic League.
before it does the right thing...which is to step in and censure the Catholic League.
I absolutely agree with this.
Any blood of the spilled Lamb's blood foie gras with that fricken cracker or like, what?
Dan, it's a fucking cracker to many - while you may "worship" it, don't expect me to.
BTW, how to you feel about the makers of the "Osties" selling the discarded part of the waffers in depanneurs? Maybe you should be outraged at that.
(And yes, I understand the "cracker" has to be blessed before it takes on any "divine" importance)...
Absolutely, defend the holiness of the host, you barbarians! (Which is only actually a host after it has been transubstantiated, BTW)
Once that's settled under law, get to work defending eagle feathers for native elders (must NOT be touched or dropped by muggles), kirpans for Sikhs (must be worn at all times), and let me carry my athame on airplanes instead of having to pack it in my luggage to be fondled or even stolen by the luggage thugs.
And then there are the Sacred Balls of the Spaghetti Monster. Don't ask.
Thank you for your consideration.
Evadne
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