Get God or Get Gone

There’s a new pope. I don’t know if he’s said this in the past or as the new pope but he came out saying that marriage equality is a device used by the Prince of Lies to distract us from God’s message. (I’m paraphrasing but not by as much as you’d think.) I’m glad they finally got a pope who’s from somewhere other than Europe. Now they just need to get one from this century.

If the Catholic Church comes out against gay marriage, what else is new? Blaming it on Satan? Really? I think Lucifer has some civil wars in Africa and human right’s violations in Asia he’s pretty busy with at the moment. Maybe he can work with the gays when his schedule frees up.

It comes across as hypocritical since the Catholic Church spent a good bit of the 20^th century sponsoring the Pedophile Relocation Program. Two consenting adults getting married offends god because they’re the wrong gender but grown men of the cloth can touch little boys and that’s cool. I’m sure the Council of Nicea had a footnote in the Bible about protecting your own over the welfare of innocent children.

I have very little respect for the Catholic Church as an institution. These days the Vatican is a country within a city but for the better part of 1,000 years that church owned half of Europe. For centuries popes fathered children, sponsored bloody political coups, started crusades that tortured and slaughtered nonbelievers, and lavished themselves in decadence while others starved.

The Catholic Church has worked hard to tear down science for most of its prominence. It’s still working on that and probably will be for many years to come. The Catholic Church considers many women’s rights issues to be sins or crimes against God. As much hate as they have for women, it took them a while to notice one was in charge.

I know most of this because I went to a catholic high school and sat through a year of church history. The teacher was cool so I remember more than a bit. Boy did that backfire.

I’m sure the Catholic Church does plenty of good in the world. They have lots of programs and outreach and aid for places that might not otherwise get anything. I just question the quality of place that can have so much negative history and is all too happy to pretend it never happened.

I can already hear people saying that the pope is not responsible for the actions of every church official. If the head doesn’t know what the hands or feet are doing, what kind of organization are you running? If America starts some shit in another country, the President is responsible. If a corporation does something horrible, it’s on the people running it.

I know people who are Catholics who are decent human beings. I respect them and their faith in God. I don’t have to respect their faith or its leaders. IMHO, there are places to worship the holy trio that would be less offensive to Jesus.

Current Music: Losing My Religion by Lacuna Coil