Monday, January 5, 2009
Homo / Religion Catholic Church Vandalized
Posted by Dan Savage on Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 10:44 AM
I can certainly understand anger with the Catholic Church, what with the Church's aggressive support for Prop 8 and the Pope's obsessive attacks on homosexuality. (What is she trying to tell us?) But vandalizing a Catholic Church (and a pro-gay franchise at that), while emotionally satisfying for the idiot vandals, represents a PR disaster for gays and lesbians, supporters of equality, and fans of the separation of church and state everywhere. Magic Underpants, Inc., the Catholic Church, and the conservative media are insisting, in the wake of Prop 8 protests, that people of faith are the real victims here, that they're the ones who are being targeted for discrimination by, er, um, the people that they've successfully targeted for discrimination. Peaceful protests at churches are fine—if attacks on gays and lesbians are being organized in churches protesters have a right to bring their complaints to churches—but property crimes are not okay, okay?
But....
Back when the current Pope was still Cardinal Ratzinger—back when he was the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (maybe you know that particular committee by its nickname: The Inquisition)—Ratzinger issued an infamous document. In his "Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons," Ratzinger argued that homosexuality is an "intrinsic moral evil... an objective disorder." (How would she know?) Ratzinger also argued that the gay and lesbian rights movement was responsible for anti-gay violence.
...when homosexual activity is consequently condoned, or when civil legislation is introduced to protect behavior to which no one has any conceivable right, neither the Church nor society at large should be surprised when other distorted notions and practices gain ground, and irrational and violent reactions increase.
Basically Ratzinger argued that anti-gay violence was an unsurprising response to gays and lesbians living openly and organizing for our rights. (The Catholic Church would rather we live chastely—you know, like priests and nuns or, um, as priests and nuns.) Organizing for our rights is a provocation, according to Ratzinger, and no one should be surprised when irrational types respond to provocations with acts of violence and blah blah Latin blah. But irrational and violent reactions aren't just for anti-gay whackos, Mr. Pope. When the Catholic Church launches attacks against the rights, dignity, and humanity of gays and lesbians, perhaps "neither the church nor society at large should be surprised when violent reactions increase."
That's not to say that vandalizing Catholic Churches is okay. It's not okay, okay? I condemn the vandalization of churches in the same spirit that the Pope Herself condemns acts of violence directed at homosexuals. (And considering that the amount of Catholic kitsch in my house could result in it being mistaken for a Catholic Church, I certainly don't want to encourage attacks on Catholic Churches.) But if the Pope is going to argue that gays and lesbians, by organizing for our rights, provoke acts of violence against ourselves, then the Pope has to accept that the Catholic Church, by organizing against our rights, is similarly capable of provoking acts of violence against itself.
Right?
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You are right Dan, idiot Christians deserve to have their churches burned to the groun!
As Jews it is our duty to always attack Christians. And having an apostate like Dan Savage helps keep up the heat on these Christian idiots.
By the way I've heard there is a lot of anti-semitism about Israel killing Palestinians. Jews have a right to kill as many of these islamic vermin as we see fit. The Torah says to.
Please keep an eye out for people making anti-war comments. Any comment against the war is anti-semitic.
Vandalizing Churches is always a good idea though! :)
Vandalors, or as you use later, vandals, would be the word to refer to the persons harming church property here.
Vandaloo would be what they ate before hand that stoked them up.
Of course, this could have been done by some Christian Victim Movement member....
Yes, that was a bit convoluted. I expect logic like that from Charles, but Dan is usually more, um, straightforward.
Allow me to translate:
Vandalism is not okay.
But given the circumstances, the church shouldn't be surprised. And using the pope's own logic, they brought it on themselves.
The last bit simply points out how the Pope's own logic ought to foreclose any Catholic outrage at this vandalism. Which, of course, it won't, but the point still stands.
I know this is hard for lapsed Catholics, and tons of them are queer, but, this Pope is determined to counter the planet wide movement for gay rights
very dangerous person, in a league almost unto himself - along with Muslims - on so called values, pushing hard to go back three centuries ...
The Catholic influence on Latins is very strong - and of course, that community is now part of the Pan American ethic mix in strong numbers .... and many have retained the homophobia thrown at them by the church ... opting for beat the queer machismo instead ...
To make my day complete.
It's hard to keep account of all
The strudel that I eat.
Vandalor, vandalee,
Vandalor,
Van-da-la-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha,
Vandalor, vandalee,
My Pradas on my feet!
(Sung to the tune of The Happy Wanderer)
Or he doesn't care.
Why should people not mock the ridiculousness, and hypocrisy of the anti gay rights movement?
Of course, that doesn't mean the gay-hating church people are good - they're worse.
On a related note, see how news broadcasts from around the world are talking about gay rights, from Iran to Russia in this video:
http://www.linktv.org/video...
Watch Global Pulse to know what the rest of the world is saying. I'm an intern working with them.
From LinkTV, a nonprofit TV channel dedicated to world news, documentaries, cinema and programming.
www.linktv.org
No pity for the Catholics, though. The fools who attend this branch of the Catholic church are cafeteria Catholics. Don't they understand that the Church cannot be the voice of morality when it takes immoral positions?
I'm glad that this church was vandalized and I wish more direct action would be taken against the current bishop (er, nazi) here....
I agree with you on those clothes, though: There's some serious sublimation going on. Perhaps His Fluffiness ought to submit to a penile plethysmograph, just to quell those pesky rumors?
the passion of the earlier protests has already flagged. this 'act' looks totally bogus and contrived to me. does no one else think so? because i'm totally calling bullshit.
Bet he'd try and tell you all how six million jews "asked for it" as well, plus the Gypsy's and all the Pink Triangles too. This mans hate-mongering stretches back more than six decades.
It's also well documented that James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman were murdered by the NAACP, CORE and Anti-Defamation League in order to make the Klan look bad.
Very bad.
James B. Moldovan
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