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MY CORNER OF THE WORLDLove is is not an emotion, it is an action;that of placing another's need before your own |
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November 26 Happy Thanksgiving!HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!
I hope you all have a great day and spend it with family and/or good friends. I am including a one size fits all holiday greeting. It recognizes all the major holidays in the U. S. Have a great day!
November 18 Will The Man In The Pointy Hat Please Shut Up!That would be the pope. Benny the XVI. The Holy Fodder, himself, who, just six weeks ago, called a conference of the holy men (when applied to Catholic clergy that is a definite oxymoron!) of the Catholic Church who are responsible for the plunder and conversion of the African continent. The Papal coffers are seeing less and less of the wealth in the form of donations from sources such as diamond. uranium, and gold mining executives. Before one knows it, the Dark Continent will be the playground of the rich and the Protestant rather than the Catholic! The Vicar of Christ is having a shit hemorrhage! He is concerned that he may actually need to dip into the church vaults in order to maintain his opulent lifestyle. In Africa, the Protestants are converting the Catholic laypeople to Protestant churches in large numbers and the Catholic Church is loosing money because donations to the Church from wealthier African converts for what I call “Favors and Forgiveness” from the Church are disappearing as the Protestant missionaries work the territory. These donations are nothing new to the church. Royalty and others of the upper class, have given substantial gifts down through the ages to the sitting popes in return for special dispensations (a marriage annulled, a mortal sin forgiven, a free pass to heaven). The King and Queen of Spain gave the Vatican enough gold that the church was able to place it on the walls and ceilings of many of the churches and buildings in Vatican City. I’m certain the Spanish Royals were promised a mansion within walking distance of God’s throne and right next to the pool and bar. But seriously, folks, how can you who are Catholic, honestly think the pope, any pope, is a holy man? So holy, in fact, that he claims the title of “Vicar of Christ” on earth! Can’t you see that he leads a very opulent lifestyle, is one of the wealthiest men on earth, and wields enormous but undeserved influence? If he’s the Vicar of Christ on earth, why isn’t he a carpenter or other craftsman by trade who was elected to the office of Pope because of his goodness, meekness and empathy toward others? Why is he a man of great wealth and political power who uses his position to gain more wealth and power and does very little to help the poor and needy around the world? In America, for example, he closes churches and their accompanying rectories and schools in poor, inner city areas, while catering to the parishes in the suburbs and wealthy areas, accepting donations from the latter and using the monies to shore up the church’s coffers rather than transferring some of that money to the poor parishes, sell the old church building and build another one that is smaller, less expensive to maintain, leave the priests and other church support personnel in place and continue to serve their poor parishioners and minister to the elderly members, the ones that nearly always make up the bulk of those congregations. Instead, they close the old building, remove the priests and leave the abandoned parishioners to fend for themselves. If that sounds to you like what the Vicar of Christ would do, I would guess you are one of the parishioners in the wealthier churches. I am not a Protestant who dislikes the Catholic Church. I am a recovering Catholic who dislikes the Catholic Church. I have grown into my dislike over years of watching and trying to understand a religion that says one thing while it practices the opposite: give of yourself to help the poor and underprivileged, oppose the sin of homosexuality wherever it is found (except in rectories and other church property), greed is bad, Papal greed is not, etc., etc., etc. Let’s begin to hold the religious leaders to a yardstick of their actions and their extreme wealth and power. If they are going to be God’s/Christ’s representatives on earth then let them be more like Christ and ditch their mansions, multiple luxury cars and their opulent lifestyle. Let’s expect them to walk the walk as they’re talking the talk to their church members. Agree, disagree, don’t care? Please let me know.
November 14 Obama-Lama-Ding-Dong?Well, good golly, Miss Molly, what's a man to do? You get yourself elected the president of the good ole U. S. of A. with a strong majority of the electorate in your corner, the news media has labeled you the next FDR, you inherit the task of righting the worse condition our country has been in in 60 or more years, you have to deal with the drool that the last "Commander in Chief" left behind as he slept with dreams of Oil riches falling from the sky into his portfolio (you know, the one he had to surrender to be president but can now resurrect after he left office; yeah that's the one, now worth ten times what it was before he was "elected" - twice!) and your standing there in your office feeling very much like a square peg in an oval hole and can't seem to keep your mind focused on draining the swamp with all the friggin' gators nipping at your gonads, and everybody saying "we should have elected the white girl!" - is that what's bothering you, bunky?
Somebody say ENOUGH ALREADY and let's cut the man some slack! Yes, he has made some mistakes and things aren't going as well as he, and we as a nation, hoped they would. There has been progress on the healthcare bill, arguably the most contentious piece of legislation ever to wind, unwind, wind its way through the halls and sewers of Congress, but little else has been accomplished. That's because what's left on his plate cannot be "fixed" in short order. Much of the problems with the fractured economy and the resulting loss of jobs, and the housing debacle, are rooted in the removal of regulations governing the financial institutions in the country that, by and large, must be re-regulated and monitored to see if the new, updated regulations are adequate to govern these institutions. It will take time to write the new regs and get them in place; time, it seems, the impatient American people are unwilling to give our prez.
We are a strange lot. We criticized our last president, Cowboy George, for being careless, inconsiderate and a bully in making his decisions. We called him to task because he did not seek adequate advice or counsel. Now with Obama, FDR in blackface (according to the news media), we expect him to dance around all the obstacles that those in both the Donkey's and the Elephant's party who oppose his ideas/plans have set in front of him, and to pass legislation that will fix all problems, by waving his magic wand. He'd be better off to toss the wand (maybe even sticking it up Rush Limbaugh's ass) and put on some ruby slippers, click twice and get the hell back to Kansas, er, Illinois!
I admit I do have empathy bordering on sympathy for Obama because he did inherit a colossal mess that has been building since the Carter days. Every president, beginning with Carter's deregulation of AT&T, has removed one or more of the regulations in place to keep big business, the banks and the financial institutions in check so that they could not run amok from greed. One by one as the regulations were weakened or removed, those institutions began imprudent practices, some of which bordered dangerously on fraud and other illegal undertakings, until we finally hit bottom in the fourth quarter, 2008. It took over twenty years to get into the mess we are in today. It will take more than 20 weeks to get out of it!
Perhaps, instead of taking Mr. Obama to task, we should look closely at our other elected politicians and see how well they are playing with the other kids in the schoolyard. Since the president has been sworn in, in January, 2009, the Republicans have openly declared that they will do everything in their power to see that he fails. That pronouncement didn't play as well as they hoped and they have since modified their stance only to have the far right dandies in the party declare that they will not compromise one iota and will stay true to their beliefs! When the far left duds in the Dems heard that bit of news, they vowed to start their own group of block heads and refused to compromise on their positions as well.
Now folks, what the hell does that prove? There are two, count 'em, two large groups of legislators who are refusing to work with each other preferring to hold their collective breaths until they turn blue and pass out rather than work out a compromise that will help get us out of this mess. You dumb ass bastards on the far right think you are doing Jesus' work and you dumb ass bastards on the far left think you are doing Man's work. Well I got some news for you both, your doing NOTHING but making bigger asses of yourselves on a daily basis. We need people in Washington and in our state legislatures as well, that are willing to do the hard work of developing common ground that both sides can live with and that can be used to write reasonable laws that we all need to observe.
Let's place the blame where it should be placed - Congress, Congress, and Congress! If we can't straighten these bastards out let's vote 'em out! And the first one who runs on a religious agenda like "I will work to make this a Christian Nation like it was when our forefathers formed it," should not receive a single vote but should be tried and imprisoned for crimes against the Constitution. We are NOT NOW, NEVER WERE and should NEVER BE a Christian Nation! Hell, Christ wasn't even a Christian, he was a Jew! We are a Nation where Christianity and all religions can openly and freely be practiced without fear of harassment or persecution from the government or other religions. So let's stop trying to save each other's soul and start trying to live with one another in peace and acceptance of our differences. Knock off the ultra religious bullshit; nothing good will come of it! Well, agree, disagree, don't give a damn? Please let me know your thoughts on this. Opinions will be printed without comment. Thanks, Jim.
August 15 CHEW ON THIS"Dear Friend, If you live in America, the chances are good that your next door neighbors believe the following: the Inventor of the laws of physics and the Programmer of the DNA code decided to enter the uterus of a Jewish virgin, got himself born, then deliberately had himself tortured and executed because he couldn't think of a better way to forgive the theft of an apple, committed at the instigation of a talking snake. As Creator of the majestically expanding universe, he not only understands relativistic gravity and quantum mechanics, but actually designed them. Yet what he really cares about is "sin," abortion, how often you go to church, and whether gay people should marry. Statistically, the chances are that your neighbors believe all that - and they can vote." The above quote appeared in a new magazine “Free Inquiry. The words are Richard Dawkins, noted author and evolutionary biologist, touting the magazine. Works for me; I’m a subscriber. August 02 The Pope’s NightmareThe year is 2019 and the Pope is Benjamin Bombasto I, who has taken the reins of the Catholic Church from the German Pope Benedict the XVI. It’s 3:10 am, Vatican city time, the Pope has had a nightmare, as a result of which he is sitting straight up in bed, broken out into a cold sweat, hands trembling and labored breathing. “Holy shit (pun intended)” exclaims his Excellency. “This is the third time I’ve had this damn dream that god really does exist! He knows everything I’m thinking and he’s watching everything I’m doing no matter where I am! All the bullshit that those damn Nuns threw at us as children in elementary school. All that nonsense designed to scare the crap out of us, so we never question what the church teaches no matter how stupid it is! I know its all bull shit so why am I having these nightmares?” Benny asks himself. “Because I gave them to you!” came a voice from the far corner of the room where the Pope’s desk sets. “Who’s there? Who are you? Father Pizzeria, if this is you, I’ll send your fat little ass to America where you will say Mass ten times a day on Mother Angelica’s Electronic Word Television Network (EWTN). I know how you hate your priestly duties; they interfere with your dabbling with, er I mean, instructing the altar boys in the finer points of man/boy love. So knock it off or you’ve sucked your last altar boy dick!” shouts the pope. “This isn’t Fr. Pizzeria, Herr Pope. This is God. You know, the First Person of the Trinity, the One who sent his son, what do you call him this time around? oh yeah, Jesus, to suffer and die for repentance of all the sins of mankind!” says the Voice. He takes a couple of puffs off a cigar and continues, “You know something, the first time I heard the story of how I sent my son down to earth to atone for man’s sins I laughed and asked myself how cruel a Being you humanoids must think I am to send my Son to earth to suffer such ignominy - for what? Nothing has changed; shit everything got worse!” said the voice from the shadows. “No, I never sent my son, or anyone else, to earth to suffer for yours and everyone else’s sins. You folks are going to need to take care of those yourselves,” the voice said coldly. Suddenly, a sense of fear and unrest comes over Pope Benny and he nervously asks, “Would you please show yourself?” “Why, you planning on shooting me with the 9MM you’ve got in your nightstand?” the voice asks jokingly. With that, the intruder gets up from behind the desk and steps into the light of the lamp on the night stand to reveal a middle aged man sporting a two day growth of beard, wearing cut off jeans, worn sneakers and a T-Shirt that has a message written on the front; Don’t Blame God For Religion! “Wait a minute, you don’t look like God! You look like a middle aged, lower class bum from the poor side of town. You’re definitely not the god I know from the Bible!” Benny sneers! “The Bible! Come on Benny, you know the Bible’s not what you boys in the religion business claim it is – ‘the word of God’ I think you call it. Theologians and bible scholars discredited it decades ago when they admitted that it simply told the same story of redemption with the same characters, who have different names because they came from different times and cultures. The ancient Egyptian god Horus was one of the earliest to save mankind by being sent to earth by his father, the Egyptian god Osiris (who was supposed to be me) and was born of a virgin. The stories of Horus and Jesus are nearly identical, and are certainly the same story! The early writers of what you call the New Testament borrowed liberally from the stories of Horus to end up with a novel about your concept of Me and My relationship with you. That is all well and good, but in no way did I help your ancestors write that Book. Those writers and the religious leaders at the time the New Testament was begun to be written, were aware of Horus, as well as another mythological figure named Mithras who was a Roman god said to be sent to earth to save mankind 75 years before Jesus was supposedly born, and they borrowed generously from both stories to come up with their own story of God’s relationship with His creation. Unfortunately, when you compare Horus’ life with Jesus’ life, you realize that you are reading the same story! They are both myth – they did not exist.” God said. “B-b-but we can’t tell people that! What will happen to the great religions of the world; to your chosen Faith, the Catholic church?” stammers Benny. “My what?! Whoa Pal, I don’t have a favorite church! I don’t play favorites. I respect some churches more than others – especially the ones who care for the poor and address the spiritual needs of all, not just the rich and powerful. I have no need for wealth and I have all the power you or anyone else can handle! More, much more, actually, so don’t tell me that you and your rag tag army of child abusers are my favorite church! You don’t want to make me angry, Benny, and I must warn you, you’re getting very damn close!” God states. “You build new, glorious churches and schools in the rich suburban areas while, at the same time, you close churches and schools in the poor sections of the cities where the residents desperately need your help and the hope that your help can give them. No, Benny, I sat by idly for too long! Now I’m telling you in no uncertain terms; change the direction of your church from one that serves the rich and powerful to something that I want, no, expect, from a church that hitches its wagon to my name; be one that serves the wants and needs of those who can’t fend for themselves and, in addition, address the spiritual needs of the rich and powerful for, in that area, the rich may be more needy than the poor,” God says. “But you can’t expect me to give up everything I have and follow your demands! That just not fair!” Benny exclaims. “Fair! Oh you don’t want me to discuss fair, Benny! Is it fair that you live in the lap of luxury, a king in his own country, while the poor, the weak, the downtrodden of your Faith continue unaided by you, your church, your wealth. As Pope and leader of the Catholic Church, you should meet the needs of all who require your help; not just those who can pay for it and in return believe they have earned, even purchased a seat in heaven. Sorry, Benny, you’ll get no sympathy from me” God explains. “What about those Butt-heads in those Mega Churches who are always condemning anyone who they feel need condemning? They are always speaking for you! Are you going to give them notice, too?” the Pope asks. “I already did. I spoke with them at the same time I spoke with you.” “How the hell did you do that?” Benny asked. “I’m God, remember. I can touch one mind at a time or thousands at once. It’s a little tricky but, with practice, I manage quite well. After all, I have been here forever” God says. “So Ben, the choice is yours. Loose the wealth, the Palace, the gold, everything and start acting like the leader of a church and not the manager of a casino! Remember, I created every living thing and I love everything I created: the good, the bad and the ugly. Don’t put words in my mouth that don’t belong there. I love everyone and I expect those humans who profess their love for me and say they will follow me to do just that. Take care of my children and give them aid and comfort when they suffer and are away from me. For to say that you follow me is to do no less. Leave the condemnation to me, for only I know what’s in a heart and why a person does what he/she does. Vaya con Dios, Benny. Walk with me or, if you choose, without me. But remember, the chips will fall where they may and they won’t give a damn if you’re a Pope or a Plumber!” And with that, God was gone, leaving Benny a bit afraid but mostly still incredulous. “That was the worse nightmare I ever had! Well, no, not as bad as the one where I lost that billion dollars in a card game with Rick Warren; but close! I have to stop eating Italian sausage and green pepper pizza as a night time snack before I turn in. Still, that was a hell of a bad dream. I mean, God wouldn’t talk that way to the Pope, the most prestigious and powerful religious figure on earth! What the hell am I talking about; I don’t even believe in god! I’m going to call the kitchen and tell them to send up a pot of coffee. I’ve had enough sleep for one night. Besides I wouldn’t want to have that dream again. Nooo sir!” He gets out of bed and goes over to the desk where the nightmare visitor sat, turns on the desk lamp and reaches for the intercom to buzz the kitchen. Suddenly he notices something in the ashtray. Cigar ashes… Doo, doo, doo, doo! Doo, doo, doo, doo! It’s all par for course in the Twilight Zone! I lifted the tables below from a website “Religious Tolerance” and an article by Tom Harpur from his book “Pagan Christ” Here is the link to the website and to that article- http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcpa5b.htm Comparison of some life events of Horus and Jesus:
Comparison of some characteristics of Horus and Jesus:
March 30 100 Things About MeI got this off a friend, Eric G's site. I modified it to fit a gay answerer. It's fun, try it. For the Straight version, visit Eric's site at http://ericwg888.spaces.live.com/ Copy and Paste what he has - don't mess his answers up - on to a WORD document and answer the questions and post on your website, When you do, your Network should get an email notifying that there is a new blog on your site and they can read it. Here's mine:
100 THINGS ABOUT ME
SHARE: HAVE YOU EVER: LIST THREE FAVORITE COLORS: 15. Made new friends → yes. FIRSTS : RIGHT NOW: YOUR FUTURE : WHICH IS BETTER WITH THE SAME SEX? - GAY HAVE YOU EVER : DO YOU BELIEVE IN: ANSWER TRUTHFULLY March 20 The Holy Fodder Visits Africa - Zippity-Doo-Dah, it ain't! Well, the Holy Fodder is visiting the poor blacks in Africa, you know, the ones who he keeps denying the use of condoms because he thinks they lead to promiscuity and sexual indiscretions and the poor African people keep passing around Aids. He must have allowed priests to keep a supply of them in the rectories across the world because the priests sure had enough sex with the altar boys so they must have had access to condoms. Well, it’s the same damn logic, isn’t it? Withhold condoms and people will reduce their frequency of sexual encounters. What a friggin bonehead. Has anyone seen this great cartoon by Tony Auth? It says it all! What a pompous, arrogant (fill in the blank) March 11 NUNS W/ GUNS; The Catholic Church Fights Back! The Vatican stole a page from the Muslim Terrorist’s Manual by announcing via a press conference in Rome the formation of Nun’s with Guns, a counter-terrorist organization that will be deployed to assist the American military in Afghanistan and armies of other nations embroiled in Islamic hot spots throughout the world.
Having long been the object of fear and terror, the Catholic Nuns have been pressed into service by His Holiness Benedict the XVI, once a disseminator of terror and torture as a member of Hitler’s Youth Group and later the SS, who was praying in his bedroom when suddenly the Blessed Virgin appeared to him and said, “Benny, I can’t believe you hadn’t thought of this but we have the oldest group of religious terrorists at our disposal: the Catholic Elementary School Nuns who have shoveled more bullshit and instilled so much fear in the hearts of countless Catholic school children causing them to blindly follow the Church which, with it’s juvenile dogma, is no small feat. If they can accomplish such mind control and fear, use them to counter the Islamic terrorists that are spreading lies about me and Jesus.”
“Jesus and I” corrected Benny.
“What?” screamed Mary, “you sanctimonious Nazi headed pompous ass, turd, how dare you correct my English. I’ll send you down to Hell and you can suck Hitler’s dick for all eternity! Get it? Now, mien kook, what about me and Jesus getting our revenge?”
“I’ll get right on it, Fraulien Blessed Mother!” said Benny, shakily.
With that, Mary was gone leaving Benny to contemplate what she requested. “She’s right! We have the most effective terrorists group in the world with the Elementary School Nuns who can make a Jew believe the Holocaust never happened! Which, of course it didn’t, but the Jews don’t want to believe it. Sister Angelus could quite effectively fight the Islamic terrorists on their own turf – bullshit propaganda. She and her sisters have done it very effectively for decades. I think I’ll call her to Rome and tell her my plans for her and the School Sistas of the Hood – Motha Fuckas.” He calls the “Matha Fuckas Motha House” in Philly and orders Sista Angelus to Rome for a meeting.
The next afternoon, Sister Angelus arrives at the Pope’s private office in the Vatican. “Angelus of the Motha Fucka, it’s so good to see your big ass in my country! Welcome sista!” says Benny.
“Hi, you little Nazi pipsqueak, how the fuck are you? You still messin with the Jews, re-appointing your fellow Youth Group commando bishop who denied the Holocaust ever happened, back to full time duty in the office of the commissioner of Truth Verification? That took some cool to do that, Benny,” laughs Mother Angelus.
“What’d you call me here for, anyway?” asks Angelus.
“The Blessed Virgin appeared to me while I was praying and told me to gather a group of elementary school nuns to form a counter-terrorists and propaganda bullshit group to oppose Islamic terrorists where ever they may be!” states Benny.
“What the fuck, over. The Blessed Mother is real? You pray? I never would have guessed it!” Angelus says.
“Hell yes I pray! Well, I did that night. It was a photo-op and I was making some great tabloid pics of me leaning on a kneeler, head in my hand and a terrible look of sorrow on my face; great guilt getter! As far as Mary goes, its true I only see her when I drink too much communion wine and, admittedly she looks and talks a lot like Mrs. Franzetti, one of my cleaning ladies; but what the hell, I am the Pope so if I say its Mary, its Mary!” Benny said, excitedly.
“I agree, your holiness! So, you want me to kick some Islamic butt, eh? I would love to. I’m your girl, Herr Pope!” Angelus laughs. “I’ll get a group of the meanest, most disgruntled, unhappy, horny, puckered ass prostitutes, er nuns, you ever met. Some real fighting forces to be reckoned with. We’ll swoop down on those candy ass would be tough boy Muslims and scare ‘em shitless. We’ll out propaganda, lie and swear to it all just like we do to those little whores and cowboys we screw over in elementary school. Hell, its right up our alley!” Angelus says.
“Great! I knew I could count on you and your tribe of malcontents.” Benny shouted! “We’ll call you Nuns With Guns because it looses a lot if we call you Nuns With Lies! This will be great times ahead for our Income Retirement Account and our Investment Portfolio in general” says His Holiness. “We’ll show those Islamic sons a bitches just who they’re fucking with!” March 07 Abortion and Homosexuality Are Not SinsIf you read my previous blog, “The Nearly Impossible Dream”, you had to come away with the sense of anger I have toward the Catholic Church and religion in general. I am an outsider, one of the abominations described with so much vile in Leviticus and other books from the old testament and then by Paul, Agustin, Constantine and other early leaders in the church that were “sinners” in their youths but defenders of the Church in their later years (when they could no longer get a hard-on) who were renown for their hard line teachings that were the typical right wing philosophy of their day as well as today; judgmental of others, never of themselves or those just like them, and filled with condemnations of all things that were considered sinful in and of themselves, no proof needed (e.g. abortion, homosexuality, and later, inter-racial marriage). The condemnations came from men who were members of the religious right who obviously felt that Jesus didn’t do a good enough job when he was here on earth because these were major sins that were not given the coverage they were due.
It’s not like Jesus didn’t get angry and condemn men for things that upset Him and His Father as when He attacked the money changers in the Temple. That truly upset Him and He felt was an affront to His Father as well. Why then did he not get angry and make strong statements against abortion and homosexuality if, as the religious right would have us believe, they were so offensive to God, His Father? I think it is obvious that these are not sins at all and most assuredly, are not major offenses to God. Being a Rabbi, Jesus would have held the belief that a child receives his/her soul when it draws its first breath. Before that time, it was not human and could be terminated in the womb. Being God as well as a Rabbi, He would have known that to be the case otherwise He would have corrected that belief and stated that abortion is indeed a serious sin.
As far as homosexuality is concerned, it is not an abomination to God because Jesus would have said such in very powerful terms as He did with the money changers. An evangelical minister who I was conversing with about homosexuality attempted to answer my question “if homosexuality was such an abomination to God, why didn’t Jesus make a point to rigorously condemn it?” by stating that it was not an issue while Jesus was here on earth. Jesus was more concerned with the sins that were prevalent in His time.” I have a problem with that answer. First, the Old Testament Books such as Leviticus, Genesis, Daniel and Sodom and Gomorrah, were very vocal on condemning homosexuality, so it was a big deal. Second, even if it weren’t the hot topic of the day, Jesus is God, He has a personal relationship with His Father and, had homosexuality been an abomination as the teachings of the times professed, He would have made numerous strong statements that it was as was taught in the Old Testament.
If you believe, as all Christians do, that Jesus is God and that He was sent down to earth to tell us, first hand, what He expected of us, then, to me, the only conclusion is that abortion and homosexuality are not sins and that homosexuality is not an abomination to God His Father, Himself. I mean, He didn’t just forget to mention them!
I am very interested in hearing your thoughts on the subject. If you would answer my questions “if homosexuality was such an abomination to God, why didn’t Jesus make a point to rigorously condemn it?” I would appreciate it. If you want to leave a comment that you agree or disagree and leave it at that that would be good, too. Thank you.
March 04 The Nearly Impossible DreamJune, 2009, will mark the 50th anniversary of my graduation from Our Lady of Sorrows elementary school in St. Louis. What a great Catholic name it had; so full of guilt and, well, sorrow. As if the name wasn’t enough to do the job, there was a statue of Mary, sitting on the ground holding the lifeless body of Jesus in her lap, looking up to heaven her eyes welled with tears. If I looked at it too long it made me cry.
Now, fifty years later when I think about the statue and the name that went with it, I wonder why it no longer has that power over me. I saw through the propaganda the Catholic Church has so diligently deployed over the millennia keeping their followers in line like the timid sheep they will always be, content to remain in the back of the cave, all too willing to forgo any attempt to take a stand, question authority and make a choice or two while living their life here on earth. Instead, they are satisfied with believing, or more likely buying into, the official dogmas of a church that, like many churches, instills the greatest fear of all, that of losing your soul, into the mainstream members who, without question, trust and believe in their leaders who blatantly preach one thing then practice whatever makes the leadership content and living a life of wealth, pleasure and power.
Look at the big Honcho, the Pope. The man is the absolute ruler of the church. Over the years, precious little happens without his consent. The average Catholic holds the Pope in the highest esteem, believing him to no longer be mortal but some how nearly an equal with God. Look at the current Pope, Benny the 16th I think it is. He’s a squeaky little man who lives a life of opulence, ease and indulgence. He heads his own country, lives in a palace with cooks, servants, tailors, chauffeurs, security guards; hell everything a man could want or hope for. He is constantly looking for ways to increase his wealth and strengthen his portfolio. Just the type of individual who you expect to be a leader of a church, a spiritual organization dedicated to saving souls.
I’m being sarcastic there, in case you missed it! The real Christ, when he visited us two thousand years ago to grant us salvation and we nailed him to a cross for his trouble, was anything but similar to the present day Pope; or any previous Pope save the one who chose the name John Paul I and who, upon declaring that he intended to return the art treasures stolen from the wealthy Jewish families by the Nazis as part of the holocaust and that were in turn given to the Catholic Church by those same Nazis in return for safe passage to South America where the Church had sufficient power to protect them, suddenly and without warning suffered a major heart attack (probably caused by a knife to the heart) and died. Wow, that was a close call; the Catholic Church could have lost some serious bread had John Paul I lived to carry out his plan. But, not to worry because things are back as they have always been and the pope remains one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the world, with Rush Limbaugh running a distant second. This being the 50th anniversary of my graduating from Our Lady of Sorrows, I am helping some of my classmates, who I haven’t seen in 50 years, organize a class reunion. It is somewhat perplexing to see them still in the throws of the church’s dogmas that I have long ago rejected as ridiculous (e.g. the priests working a miracle at every mass, changing bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood, or my favorite nonsense the assumption of Mary, body and spirit, into heaven – I always prayed for her that she wouldn’t get hit by an airplane while hanging somewhere in heaven in the sky) and at best the imagination of a group of megalomaniacs gone horribly wrong! But, after having met with my oldest if not current friends and seeing how happy they are, devoted to their church and its teachings, compared to my anger at the lies and misdeeds over the centuries by evil, selfish men, and always trying to uncover the truth behind their phony proclamations, seeking reasons for their invented dogmas and searching for justice for their ruining countless lives and destroying hope in those who dared to oppose them, I have to ask myself “who’s the idiot, here? Them for blindly following juvenile, fabricated “truths” and allowing themselves to be duped by these soul-saving charlatans using religion to maintain the wealth and power of the leadership, or me, tilting against windmills with nothing more than words to combat their words and a desire to see these bastards remanded to a place where they can do no more harm to their fellow planetary travelers? Yep, it’s me, the unhappy, angry one who has fought for gay rights and equality for the last 35 years or more, arguing against religion’s lies and misdeeds. I may be the idiot in a rusty suit of armor riding a tired, old donkey, but in Part 2 of this blog, I want to tell you why I think it’s worth the effort and the risk. Please leave any question or comment you might have and I will be happy to answer them. |
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