By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them
I was raised in the Roman Catholic Church, and even after a lifetime of following politics I have never seen a more corrupt, hypocritical organization in my life — and, given its longevity, it would be hard to argue that a more corrupt, hypocritical organization ever existed.
This was made clear to the broader public only with the exposure of decades (actually centuries, I’m sure) of pedophilia and sexual assault of children and the efforts made by the church to protect clergy from civil consequences. But the rot goes much, much deeper than that.
Consider this gem unearthed by the Friendly Atheist blog, from a radio show called “Catholic Answer Live,” which purports to answer ethical questions for listeners. A caller said he had been contracted to install fire alarms at an abortion clinic — what should he do?
OK, ignore the fact that this sounds like a phony question concocted to pose the ethical dilemma. Host Fr. Paul Keller had no apparent qualms about telling the caller:
… It would be not a good thing to be involved in helping somebody who’s taking a life… Think about if you were in Nazi Germany, and you were asked by Hitler to install a fire alarm, or a sprinkler system, in one of the guards’ shacks right next to the ovens that were killing Christians and Jews, and so forth. I don’t think you’d want to even set foot in an internment camp such as… in that part of the world.
Or the Ku Klux Klan. Suppose the Ku Klux Klan asked you to do this similar work in one of their offices, but they are completed devoted to being anti-Catholic and… being totally racist and so forth. So no, you wouldn’t want to do that.
And it’s the same thing, only worse, with this company, because that is Planned Parenthood, because their business is to kill babies in the womb, and we should have nothing to do with it. We should not aid and abet them in any way whatsoever. So, yes, it would be unethical to work with them, for them, in any way.
Any correlation between Catholic theology and the teachings of Jesus Josephson the Nazarene are completely coincidental.
Religion is a scam
Or as the old saying goes:
Organized religion started on the day the first knave met the first fool.
Atheism, and give ’em all the finger.
I don’t get the self righteousness over something so personal and un-provable. I guess people are intellectually lazy and like something that can’t be falsified through empirical means so they don’t have to think or logically defend the dogma. It’s an ugly human trait. No one knows if there’s a God or what this creature is, where it came from or if it even exists
My journey out of the Catholic Church to atheism started when at my confirmation at about age 14 I heard an Archbishop from the pulpit declare Jews Christ killers; it was further aided by four years at a Jesuit university where my reasoning and logic skills were honed. It was completed when, as a volunteer Adult Education coordinator a seminar I organized in that parish on radical Dutch Theology was deemed poisonous to the little minds of my fellow parishioners and I was fired. That did the job quite thoroughly.
I did enjoy my earlier years with the National Association of Laity where a team of us confronted Bishops around the country causing the Diocesan budgets to be published for the great unwashed ………100% successful around the country but the books slowly closed up, once again concealing the great wealth the Church held prior to having to sell much of it off to settle Pedophilia cases. Mostly the great unwashed didn’t give a shit about that great wealth or the Pedophilia.
@mouse “I don’t get the self righteousness over something so personal and un-provable.”
Because it’s deeply personal. This perhaps explains it better than I could:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j8ZMMuu7MU
Damn, that’s spot on, thanks. I guess I don’t have to feel bad now for taking that holy water from the Catholic church for my bong
Theresa the Theist has issues. I am a Theist. That anyone or no one shares that belief is of no consequence to me. I am not rejected when someone disavows the existence of a higher power. Think that piece. Theresa is not that way because she is a Theist, it would have been the same has she been an Atheist, in fact I would bet most everyone knows Atheists who are exactly like Theresa.
Theresa is triggered because she has low self esteem and can only be validated by existing in a world where her beliefs are the norm. Theresa should dare to be different and learn to celebrate that difference. Perhaps Theresa needs a safe space where she can learn to accept her uniqueness. Or more likely, this is all a bunch of psychobabble like that video.
@D “Theresa the Theist has issues.”
Duh… Every single theist I have ever known has issues, and most are deeply embedded in tribalism.
Do you know any actual atheists? Ever had a real discussion with a smart one?
People should live lives free of superstition.
It’s the only way to be truly free and well educated.
Atheists offer you this advice not because we are like Theresa.
This conversation is so 10 years ago.