Religion, Tolerance, and Respect

Blogger PZ Myers has been getting a lot of flak lately from the religious and religious apologists for stating that he wants to "disrespect a cracker".

I'll repeat what he said: "IT'S A FRACKING CRACKER!!!"

Yes catholics, it's really just a cracker. It's not REALLY the body of your savior. How can it be? Do you really eat Jesus everytime you have communion? And that grape juice you're drinking, no it's not his blood either. If you really, really, REALLY believe it's Jesus flesh and blood you're eating and drinking, then DAMN, you're a cannibalistic vampire!

PZ's mailbox has gotten overloaded with hate mail from christians, some just wanting to pray for him, but most want him fired, or worse, want him dead! Some are even threatening harm to his family! WOW! How's that for a religion that supposedly teaches peace, love, and harmony? The Islamic Fundies don't sound that bad after all!

If you want your beliefs to be tolerated and respected, then first, you yourself must learn to tolerate others' beliefs (or non-beliefs). Second, you must show that your religion is actually worthy of that respect you demand.

The problem is, most religious sermons are highly intolerant and outright disrespectful of others who do not believe the same. Is saying "those who do not believe in our god are going to burn in hell!" or "There can be no morality without god" more tolerant and respectful than someone taking home a cracker? If you're willing to criticize others for their non-belief, then be prepared to accept criticism of yours.

The problem is poverty, not population???

Say again Mr. Pabillo? Population is not the problem? How do you propose to eradicate poverty if the population keeps rising at the current rate? Where will you get the jobs? How will you provide education? Has it ever occurred to you that MAYBE, too many children, especially those that are not planned for, can be a burden, both financially and emotionally?

Of course, for a priest who cannot have children (yeah right), you don't really know what it's like. Your pope is being hailed as the "Green Pope", someone who says that good catholics should try their best to preserve the Earth. How are you helping by shifting the blame away from overpopulation?

How about asking your big bosses to release the massive amount of money they have to REALLY help the poor, instead of lavishing it on themselves? How about building homes for these people instead of building grand churches? How about giving them jobs instead of throwing pennies at them?

Instead of yapping about your dogma, why not propose REAL solutions? I think the most glaring fact here is that the Church is part of the problem. Please Mr. Pabillo, stop embarassing yourself and your business associates.

Catholic Church Blackmailing Politicians

Here we go again, this time, they're getting bolder. Recently, the Catholic Church has threatened to forbid giving the holy communion to politicians who will support the reproductive health bill. Some are even going so far as to say that refusing communion to them would be an act of love. Yes, just like baptizing the Aztecs before killing them was an act of love. right?

If any of you are concerned at all about the welfare of our country and it's people, please, write your local representative and tell them they NEED to support this bill, regardless of what some men in goofy robes tell them. They have no other argument except for their particular interpretation of a cherry-picked statement from their holy book. These men are NOT their god.

The Pope with a rap sheet?

Someone just filed criminal charges on the Pope.

MANILA, Philippines -- A lawyer filed on Tuesday a criminal complaint before the Manila prosecutor's office accusing Pope Benedict XVI and Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales of human rights violations, including alleged disturbance of public order, swindling and teaching immoral doctrines.

Elly Pamatong claimed the Pope and Rosales "have been arrogantly, oppressively and offensively mounting loudspeakers on church rooftops, towers, belfries and trees that are blaring with monotonous false dogmas and doctrines."

"They have been disturbing the peace and quiet of non-Catholics throughout the country," he said in his complaint.

Among others things, Pamatong wants the court to rule that those who will not respect the rights of non-Catholics to live in peace "be deported to the Vatican and forever barred from entering the country."

However, I don't know if this is the same Ely Pamatong as the infamous Spike Boy, who wreaked havoc on EDSA last June 2004. If he's one and the same, he has no right to complain about "disturbing the peace". Can't say I don't agree with him on the "monotonous false dogmas and doctrines" thing, though.

Hypocrisy rears it's ugly head again

From an article in the Inquirer:

“For an official of the Roman Catholic Church, the commission of a homosexual act is the real issue behind the rectal surgery in Cebu City that exploded into a scandal on YouTube.

Msgr. Achilles Dakay, spokesperson of the Archdiocese of Cebu, Wednesday said the doctors and nurses who had made fun of an anesthetized male patient in the operation room of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) and uploaded a video of the surgery on YouTube should not be blamed solely for the scandal.

“We are asking everyone not to forget or to bypass the main issue: the wrong act of a guy with another man,” Dakay said in an interview over the Church-run Radio Veritas. “People are not talking about what happened before the operation—the homosexual act that was done very badly.”

A homosexual act done badly? I suppose a priest would know how to do it correctly. Their kind have had plenty of experience with little boys.

Mr. Dakay (I won't call you monsignor because it means nothing to me), that is not the real issue here. Granted, what the patient did was disturbing to say the least, and allowing someone to shove something up your ass is pretty stupid, but THAT'S NOT THE REAL ISSUE HERE. The issue was that the doctors disrespected the privacy rights of the patient. Does it matter that it was the result of a homosexual act? If he was the victim of a car crash, would it then be acceptable to upload the video on Youtube?

Mr. Dakay, I would suggest you focus your energies on what goes on behind the curtains in your own organization. You'll find plenty to be disappointed about there.

Church "Modernizes" the Sins List

The Vatican just added 7 more deadly sins to the original seven.

But this brings a snicker to my lips:

Accumulating excessive wealth

Inflicting poverty

Violation of fundamental rights of human nature

WOW! Talk about looking in the mirror! Do you see the boulder in your eye? Or the HUGE wart on your nose?

They're Certainly Persistent...

Wow these guys can't get over it. Check out this photo.

Can't see it? Let's zoom in a little closer...



They "strongly oppose" the Population and Reproductive Health Management Policy. Why? Because it is deceptive? Because it endangers the lives of women and unborn children? How so? I'm willing to bet that the Church will say it promotes promiscuity and abortion. Never mind that the Church doesn't really have a good track record for treating women properly, but that's for another post.

Teaching people about reproductive health, and raising their awareness about sex is a good thing. It protects women (and men!) from disease and from unwanted pregnancy.

Does it promote promiscuity? Hardly. No one is telling the kids to go out and experiment with sex. In fact, informing them about it could possibly take away the element of curiosity, and therefore even minimize the chances. Besides, it's not like people won't try sex if they're kept ignorant about it.

Does it promote abortion? Of course not. In fact, it helps to avoid needing abortion. The more informed you are, the less chance of an unwanted pregnancy, the less need for abortion.

But as usual, the Magisterium.... I mean, the Church says, "evidence schmevidence!" They would rather put dogma and ideology over logic and reason.

Now if I was a conspiracy nut, I would say the Church is doing this on purpose, so they can keep the general populace poor and uneducated. As we all know, the main source of funds for the Church is from the masses. If the general populace were to be highly educated, God forbid that the clergy would actually have to WORK for a living. But I'm not a conspiracy nut so I wont say it. :)