I've been batting around the idea of returning to religion and
specifically, the Catholic Church. I read a 200-page history of the
development of the Catholic Church as an establishment that led me to
reconsider.
Now, Pope Benedict intends to send investigators to find and throw out any
priests who identify as homosexual, and the Catholic Church is now pretty
much crossed off my list. It seems odd to me that the Pope wants to fire
celibate homosexuals, but the Church is more than willing to protect
pedophiles. Being homosexual does not make one more likely to abuse
children. Being a homosexual who does not commit homosexual acts is
actually not a sin, according to the Church. Nevertheless, the Church is
seeking to become more conservative than ever.
The whole country, apparently, has swung far to the right. NPR had a
feature yesterday on the popularity of fundamentalist churches and the
disappearance of progressive religion in this country. Secondly, I read
part of an article by Cass Sunstein in Harper's Magazine this month, and I
learned that Stevens is actually a Republican moderate. I never knew
that, nor would I have guessed that. Sunstein points out that it's not
Stevens' decisions that have changed, but rather, the Court has changed so
far to the right that a Republican moderate like Stevens is on the left.
2 comments:
A few points regarding the Pope's decision to inspect th seminaries. First, granting for the sake of argument your point that a homosexual is no more likely to become a pedophile than a heterosexual, allowing those who identify themselves as homosexual is problematic for another reason. Primarily, the problem is that homosexuality is considered a sin in the Church. Therefore, peopple who iderntify themselves as homosexual and are running seminaries creates a culture of hushing up sexually inappropriate behavior.
The result is that the seminary becomes a place where commiting sexual sin is overlooked, or worse, winked at. I think this is the reason why the Pope wants to change the seminary culture. In other words, I think the Pope sees a direct correlation between the culture that avoids/overlooks sexual sin with the recent sex scandal. Therefore, even assuming that "being homosexual does not make one more likely to abuse children," the Church willingly overlooking one sexual sin creates a culture where other more serious sexual sins are more easily overlooked.
Your comment on the history and development of the Catholic Church is somewhat unclear and would take much conversation unpack. Regarding the country swinging to the right, some attribute this swing to the perceived moral laxity Clinton administration.
I believe it's an established fact that most pedophiles have been heterosexuals. I think you miss the point the author of the blog is making: gay sex may be considered a sin, but gays who are celibate should be treated the same as straights who are celibate. Hate the sin, love the sinner, right? It isn't "overlooking" sexual behavior; it's accepting a person who has decided to remain celibate.
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