I can appreciate a lot of abstract things. The philosophy of post-modernism in which we don't really KNOW anything, and what we perceive is filtered through too many cultural biases for us to really be sure of its veracity... I can try to think like that and succeed... I think...
But things that are so blatantly ridiculous, so patently absurd, so... so weird... I can't get behind thinking like that. Take this complaint. I got this article from the Chicago Daily Herald (http://www.heraldextra.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/bishops-say-government-eroding-religious-liberty/article_6fa06089-9c04-5685-b0e8-1d018045657f.html)
As usual, my snark filled and 'intolerant' remarks will be in italics...
U.S. Roman Catholic bishops vowed Monday to defend their religious liberty in the face of growing acceptance of gay marriage and what they called attempts by secularists to marginalize faith. Off to a GREAT start. Because we all know that denying basic rights to people is a cornerstone of the church's dogma. When they stop getting government handouts and tax-free status and aren't the RICHEST religion in the world that preaches the benefits of suffering and poverty, then I'll listen to their complaints. Until then... Well...
Bishop William Lori, leader of a new national religious liberty committee, condemned federal and state policies that he said interfered with the church's ability to provide social services, from health care to immigrant support to international aid. And when we become an entirely religious nation, fully under the control of the vatican, then we will bow to Lori's wishes.
In Illinois, government officials stopped working with Catholic Charities on adoptions and foster-care placements after 40 years because the agency refused to recognize a new civil union law. Illinois bishops had sued the state but on Monday said they would stop the legal fight and no longer provide state-funded services. The mere fact that the church is doling out STATE-FUNDED SERVICES is a huge red flag.
In New York, the bishops, along with Orthodox Jewish leaders and others, have complained that the religious exception in this year's law allowing gay marriage is too weak to be effective. Don't like gay marriage? Don't get one. But you can't deny people state funded services because of your religion. That is a functional definition of prejudice. Welcome to civil rights 101.
On the federal level, the bishops have been pressing the Health and Human Services Department during its public comment period for a broader religious exception to part of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul that mandates private insurers pay for contraception. Typical. Blastocysts have more importance than actual humans. This kind of dogmatic, unquestioning loyalty attached to privilege and entitlement makes me urk.
"We should not be obliged to provide services or other initiatives that are contrary to our conscience," said Lori, bishop of Bridgeport, Conn. "We don't need the government forcing our hand." Then refuse tax exempt status. Remove chaplains from the military. Refuse to be a sponsor of schools. Stop trying to get prayer into sports games. Close your private schools. Repeal the 1970 Walz Supreme Court decision. Stop blocking legislation that supports planned parenthood. YOU are forcing the hands of the SECULARIST IDEALS that this government should be founded on. And quit being dicks.
Archbishop Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the bishops are not just reacting to Obama's policies, but to a broader society in a "drive to neuter religion" and "push religion back into the sacristy." Wow! The gall! To be a member of the richest, most privileged religion in the richest, most privileged society and to complain about how you don't want to follow the rules of that society... You have balls of solid marble.
"That's a cultural issue that the church has been concerned about forever, not just in the United States," Dolan said. Remember when the church was in charge of everything, including culture and social health? It was called the dark ages.
But Dolan said he discussed the church's concerns with Obama when the two men met last week in the Oval Office. The archbishop said Obama was "extraordinarily friendly" and "very ardent" in reassuring Dolan that the administration would look into the problems. What problems? To make the church do what it should do under a secular government? Does anyone see a problem with this?
"I left there feeling a bit more at peace with this issue than when I entered," Dolan said. Glad the great capitulator could stroke your ego, Dolan.
Religious freedom was the main focus at the fall meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which has public sessions through Tuesday. "Item number two on the agenda: How to keep kids quiet about the whole... you know..."
The new religious liberty committee that church leaders formed met for the first time. Anthony Picarello, general counsel for the conference, will oversee that work, which will include hiring a lobbyist and another attorney.
Picarello had worked for seven years at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a public-interest law firm based in Washington, and also served on an advisory committee for Obama's Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
Bishops hope to persuade federal lawmakers to retain the Defense of Marriage Act, which passed in 1996, and launched a new website called Marriageuniqueforareason.org. Obama has said his administration would no longer defend the law, calling it "counter to the Constitution." Bishops said it was wrong to describe their religious convictions as discrimination. When it is discrimination, it will be called that. And don't you dare try to make yourselves out to be the ones taking the moral high ground. That's akin to the slavery you condoned because the bible approved it. Human laws are invariably more moral than religious ones because human laws can change. Deal with it.
"The church has nothing against compromise, but we can't compromise principle," Dolan said. "Not only will we not compromise principle, we'll demand you conform to our ideals. See? We're not against compromise."
The bishops are confronting the Health and Human Services Department on another front. The government agency recently decided not to renew a contract held since 2006 by the bishops' refugee services office to help victims of human trafficking. What?
The American Civil Liberties Union is suing to stop the agency from making grants to groups who "impose religiously based restrictions on reproductive health services" for human trafficking victims. The women are often raped and forced into prostitution by their captors. WHAT?! This is the definition of evil. Refusing to allow women who were raped and forced into prostitution reproductive health services? The church has NO moral high ground to stand on now.
The bishops' conference has called the decision biased against Catholic beliefs. "Rape and torture are bad, but nowhere near as bad as RU-486". Agency officials vehemently deny any bias and say the sole criteria for evaluating potential grantees was which group could best serve the victims. Administration officials note that the vast network of Catholic social service nonprofits, including the bishops' conference, receives hundreds of millions of dollars in government funding in amounts that have increased in the last couple of years. You have more of a duty to your dogma than to human beings? That's horrible. Evil.
"We should not be at a disadvantage competing for contracts because we bring certain convictions to the table," Lori said. The only convictions I see are crimes against humanity on the part of the church, but that's just me, I guess.
Does anyone else feel unrighteous indignation boiling up inside them now?
Fuck it. Here's a picture of a small cute animal.
Song of teh post: Anti-Pope, by The Damned
Atheist saint of teh post: Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu
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