Comments on: Who Are You Calling “Disordered”?

By: martha

martha — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:04:43 +0000

As a (lapsed) Catholic, I still insist on calling him Ratzinger; it’s a much more fitting name.

The argument that sex must be open to children in order to be moral pure infuriates me because it is so illogical. What about sex with a woman who has gone through menopause? Or sex with a man or woman who are infertile? Is THAT a sin? If the Church followed their own argument to it’s conclusion, they would have to say yes, that is a sin.

Of course, they only use this argument when its application is convenient.

By: mischiefmanager

mischiefmanager — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 01:08:14 +0000

And what do you call rampant child molestation, Fournier? A hobby? How about mass beatings of school children? Well, those stressed out priests and nuns have to let off steam somehow, right?

By: emilyanne

emilyanne — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:47:53 +0000

DangerMouse, jesus – see that’s the sort of thing I just don’t get. Mind you as I’ve explained elsewhere I had an odd sort of Catholic upbringing in that my church going parents are both pro-choice doctors who have performed abortions and in my dad’s case are at the forefront of stem cell research. Neither of them have ever had a problem with this – seriously sometimes i wonder about how my dad can call himself a Catholic given his great heroes are Darwin and T E Huxley but he would say that it is a religion that should encompass everyone and not to do so is contrary to its central tenets of acceptence.

By: DangerMouse

DangerMouse — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:33:01 +0000

Emilyanne–I have acquaintances from Spain who decide to ignore the church’s stance on premarital sex but are still anti-gay. My facebook status about prop 8 totally lost me a friend when I explained it later in the day and it was one of my most proud friend-losing moments.

I mean, we’re talking something that’s reflected in STRUCTURAL BRAIN DIFFERENCES (LeVay, 1991, Science). (That’s not the only argument, but that’s the one I like to use the most.) For example, I’d be seriously impressed if gay men can make the shapes of their brain change to look more like women just so they can be “disordered” and “self-indulgent”. It’s like when people talk about “choosing” to be gay–yeah, because people totally would choose that given today’s society (and that of previous generations and in other locales).

(Funny thing that I learned while checking that reference: Homosexuals are more likely to be left-handed (McCormick & Witelson, 1994, Behavioral Neuroscience). I’m surprised we haven’t heard that they are DOUBLE evil because of this.)

By: Kari

Kari — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:19:11 +0000

All the Catholics I have known personally are very cool, accepting laypeople (or intimidatingly intelligent Jesuit priests). That these people belong to the same institution as a hateful nutbag like Fournier — to say nothing of child-raping priests and their apologists — continues to boggle my mind. I have to remind myself that “catholic” = “universal,” and there are as many kinds of Catholics as there are (for example) atheists.

By: sarah.of.a.lesser.god

sarah.of.a.lesser.god — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:19:03 +0000

@rodriguez: Well, after 500 years of nothing but Italian popes, the Cardinals elected a Pole and then a German. Maybe they’re inching toward non-European popes verrrry slowly. For a nonwhite Pope to be the face of a faith of a billion people? It would really be interesting.

By: emilyanne

emilyanne — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:00:34 +0000

GreenGothBritChick – ha probably not but more seriously I do think the church in Ireland is increasingly less influential in people’s daily lives.

By: rodriguez

rodriguez — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:39:24 +0000

@soalg I think in the last election there were many disappointments when the cardinal in Nigeria(?) did not get the papacy.

By: rodriguez

rodriguez — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:37:17 +0000

(emilyanne you made my day when you remembered that thread on jezebel about the RC Church’s policy in Africa and Asia vs. N. America)

By: sarah.of.a.lesser.god

sarah.of.a.lesser.god — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:09:34 +0000

@emilyanne: I wonder how much longer it will be before there is a non-European pope. I agree that the Church is starting to think that European Catholicism is a lost cause when it comes to strict adherence to dogma.