They're Just Not That Into You

Since a former Nazi-youth pope was elected, you have to figure things would get rocky between the Vatican and the Jewish community. Well, at least those who pay attention to every word of what they write/say about each other. Sure, the pope welcomed back a holocaust denier, but anyone could make that mistake...not.

So, what's the latest? Well, christians of all ilks seem to think it's their duty to convert others (by force, if necessary) so that these ignorant infidels can be granted access to heaven. Jews, like others who have firm belief in their own version of the afterlife, of which they're guaranteed the good spots, aren't so wild about this. The argument (something akin to how many letters can be written on the head of a pin) is whether or not in the recently reinstated mass or a 2002 memo the catholic hierarchy has reverted back to wanting to convert jews.

To those in the Jewish community who are concerned about this, allow me to make it clear: Those in the catholic hierarchy do not think you are getting into heaven until you accept jesus. At best, this makes you naiive in their eyes. They take pity on you (at best) and want to help you see the light--they feel it's their mission and have felt this way for 2000 years. Like the scorpion, it is their nature. They may talk nice to your face and don't raise armies to destroy you, but they aren't into you, except as potential dues paying converts. To think otherwise is what makes you naiive.

Do as I Think, Not What I Say

Enforcing thought control is tough, and a double-edged sword. Take the pope's predicament. He wants to 'heal' the catholic church by rehabilitating (and not in the 12-Step sense) some bishops who belong to a breakaway part of the church. Basically, they think the Vatican's gone too soft in liberalizing the church and backing away from the jews killed jesus stuff. Funny thing, one of the rehabilitated bishops is a holocaust denier.

How can this be a surprise to anyone? The bigger surprise is the Ratzinger supposedly didn't know about it. C'mon, what a bunch of horseshit. Being a cardinal among Hitler's willing executioners must have given him a little sensitivity on the subject.

The fact is that this pope, and the people who help him make these kinds of decisions, don't think that anti-semitism is a big deal. They say it is when they're called on it, but let's judge them on their actions when people aren't looking. When they start releasing the communications between Pius XII and the Nazi's during WWII I'll start to believe it.

Of course, this whole idea of brining these guys back into the church because they claim they think more like the church is an enormous bunch of crap. Pulease. They may change what they are singing, but the tune inside their heads is still the same. Just like the vatican when it talks about anti-semitism.

Religion in the Public Square

I am not anti-religion. I couldn't care less which equally ridiculous creation story you believe in, as long as you don't force your enlightenment on others via the barrel of a gun (or other instrument of violence).

The fact of the matter is that we live in a christian country and there are significant number of people (though not the majority of voters) who vote for president based on which candidates flavor of christianity is perceived to be closest to their own. So, I applauded when mega-church pastor Rick Warren decided to have both Obama and McCain over for a chat (Bob Barr sued, and lost, to be invited to this nominally private event). This gave both candidates a chance to answer questions that christian conservatives supposedly care about. For McCain, it was a chance to burnish is anti-abortion bona fides (more about that later) and for Obama to espouse his faith to the 'true' believers.

The candidates were true to form. Obama gave longer answers which were either more nuanced or showed a lack of conviction (depending on how you feel about Obama) and McCain was more glib and went to his frequently used quotes. There are some who feel that McCain also may have had an advantage of going on after Obama.

For you pro-choice Hillz supporters who are thinking of not voting for Obama, I've got this for you:

Asked at what point he believes life begins, McCain immediately said: “At the moment of conception.”

“I will be a pro-life president and this presidency will have pro-life policies,” he said, after receiving thunderous applause.

Just saying.

Elsewhere, there was an interesting CA supreme court ruling about a doctor's right to not provide services (in this case, non-emergency artificial insemination) to people who's lifestyle conflicts with their religious beliefs (in this case, the doctor claims it's because the woman's not married, when it reality it's probably because she's gay). The court says that the doctor cannot discriminate as to whom she provides services based on sexual orientation. The case can now go to trial.

If the doctor is accepting state money to provide the services (and the LA Times article does not specifically mention this) or worked in a state facility, then I agree with the court. If the woman was going to pay through private insurance or out of her own pocket and the doctor is in private practice, the doctor should have the right to refer her to another provider. I don't see how in an non-emergency situation that doesn't involve public money that the rights of the person seeking treatment trumps those of the person providing it.

Justice (perhaps)

Several months ago I blogged about this church that protests at soldiers' funerals. Well, as it turns out, the parents of one these soldiers got pissed off enough that he sued these bastards...and won. The verdict is against the church, not the individuals, so maybe they'll see some of the money. More importantly, if they can get to the cash perhaps they can prevent at least some of these morons from staging any more of the protests.

And all this time I thought that religious people believed that god LOVED us.

We All Have Our Moral Lines

When it comes to moral conundrums, we all draw our lines. We may not approve of each others', but these lines form the rationalizations that get us through our days. So, it was with great interest that I read about a woman in Orange County, CA (seriously, no one I know of call is The OC) who is suing the Orange County sheriff when she was forced to remove her hajib when she was booked. Ms. Khatib insists that her religious rights were violated when she was uncovered in the presence of men who were not her husband.

I'm pleased that she is so pious. My sense is that she uses her religion to help others and to live a moral and law abiding life. Oh yeah, except for the part about cheating the government out of money (she and her hubby plead guilty to welfare fraud). Good for her that her case occurred in about the only area where the ACLU (who filed her suit) doesn't have any attorneys with Jewish surnames. Now THAT would have been a moral conundrum.

Take That, Pedophiles

Big news here is that the Los Angeles Archdiocese settled with the largest set of victims of pedophile priests in the country. The civil trial was supposed to start tomorrow and the church knew it would completely lose its ass. And probably didn't want it widely known that roughly 3/4 of its churches have had a pedophile priest ministering the flock at one time or another. I think another reason for settling was so that all of those victims wouldn't have to testify.

What needed is a criminal trial for cardinal Roger Mahoney. Throughout this sordid mess he has been in full CYA (and I don't mean Catholic Young Adults) mode, particularly since he was responsible for transferring some of these monsters from church to church. He's always been more interested in protecting the church's assets then showing any sympathy or empathy for the victims. It got so bad that the state passed a law throwing out the statute of limitations giving people one year to file any claims against the church. He's also gotten some strong recommendations from the D.A. to be a bit more forthcoming. His apology and crocodile tears ring hollow. The cardinal's actions speak for themselves.

Of course, there's no amount of money that can relieve the victims of their pain. I hope that the process for dividing the money goes quickly. Imagine having to play How Bad Was Your Abuse with a couple of lawyers and an insurance adjuster, even to get a million dollars.

No telling how much some of these priests will scream when the rest of their names and their files are released (a judge will decide whether a file should be released if a priest objects). If there's a hell, I hope that there's plenty of room for those cowardly little fuckers.

Thinning the Job Market

As an atheist, people assume that I get upset when school districts want to have creationism taught in schools. I usually don't because a) those dumbass laws usually get repealed after those school board members who vote for them get voted out and b) the more kids who grow up learning that shit as fact ,the fewer competitors for good jobs when the HB when he applies for college. But, this takes the cake.

Now, to say that dinosaurs roamed the earth with people goes against pretty much everything that evolutionary biologists know. That's OK, there was a time when the greatest scientific minds thought the world was flat. But, I need a little proof. And note that some people don't think that dinosaurs even existed since they aren't mentioned in the bible. But, the museum's website states that they've got a good story to tell, even without scientific evidence. Basically, they give it away with their marketing statement: Prepare to Believe. Personally, I think we're better off preparing to Know.

Ding, Dong the Witch Is Dead

As I'm sure you've read by now, god has smote Jerry Falwell. For better or for worse, he got fundamentalist christians involved in the political process. If leaders of other groups got their followers as involved we would have a much better democracy. Don't be mad at him for doing a good job of it. Also to his credit, he was not a hypocrite from the Jim Bakker or Jimmy Swaggert school or preaching the dumbass prosperity gospel.

Of course, it's hard to look the other way at how divisive he was in this country and how he helped move the Republican party away from its libertarian leanings. And in the last few years he just said some stupid shit.

In my business we know that people tend to pay more attention to negative information in interviews and performance reviews than the positive. Falwell clearly did this when reading the bible as he thought it was more important to punish people based on something that's mentioned once (e.g., not sleeping with someone of your gender) rather than love them based on love, which is mentioned 51 times. And for that, the figurative gates of hell should be held open for him.

Some Things Really Piss Me Off

I'm not against organized religion. It's not my bag, but, to paraphrase Marx, everyone needs their opiate. When religious folks start telling me how the laws of the land should reflect their beliefs, I start getting testy. I think my wife and I are fully capable of deciding on reproductive issues and what kind of sex ed the HB gets. But what REALLY burns my ass is this kind of shit. WHAT THE FUCK!!??

These cretins used to only do this shit at military funerals. Then congress passed a law telling essentially telling them to back off. This law is really a test for my libertarian beliefs. On one hand I believe that citizens should be able to speak about the government anywhere they damn well please. But I also believe that people should expect a certain level of privacy at a funeral, even if it occurs on government property. So, I wasn't too bent out of shape when the law passed.

Are these asshats so morally bankrupt that we need to pass a law that says that mourners shouldn't have to listen to protesters during their loved one's funeral? I can't believe they don't get the shit beat out of them.

Holidays

My wife's family were all brought up Catholic by their mom (her dad didn't really give a shit). After her serious bout with depression, she decides that god doesn't care about her and gives it up. However, they still all insist on doing the xmas and easter thing. So, their tradition was to open presents on xmas eve. One year when my nephew was pretty young (I'll say 4 or younger) they were planning to kick off the whole shebang early so he wouldn't have a late evening melt-down. Fair enough. Then, my b-i-l's wife, who, while I wouldn't say practicing christian, does in fact enter a church a few times a year says, "Hey, can we do it a bit later so I can go to mass?" By my wife's family's reaction you would have thought that she suggested that they don't exchange xmas presents and that they should do something stupid instead, like help the poor that day.

I bring this up because on Sunday we're heading to one of my s-i-l's for easter. Personally, I like to celebrate easter by getting really drunk the night before so that on the blessed day I feel as if I've woken from the dead, but that's a different story. So, we're supposed to head over there at 11am. In this case, the group includes my m-i-l's neighbor who is about my m-i-l's age, is pleasant company and often joins us for such things. So, she asks my m-i-l (and, more importantly, my nephew's mom who will be doing the driving) if they could make it closer to noon so she can....wait for it...attend mass that morning! THE NERVE! Y'know, they do that stuff at SUNRISE. At any rate, my wife's family is less high-strung about these things now, so great controversy was avoided. But, it did allow me to give her some shit about it.

I would be much better with our country's calendar being pushed around by christian holidays if most of the people who are into the holidays practiced the religion. My wife's family members are such fucking hypocrites about it. Each xmas they get all wound up about whose house we'll be at, what to have for dinner, etc. For all they care about the religion, who gives a shit? We should just do it in July when the weather's warmer and give each other presents at the beach. As for tomorrow, I just hope I can watch the last round of the Masters. I'll record it, just in case. Right now, I'm thinking Tim Clark will win. Tiger's too far back and not hitting the ball well and with the wind no one is going to shoot a low score. Besides, Clark's been close too many times not to seal the deal.