One of my conspecifics told me that the Vatican opposes a UN resolution calling on all nations to decriminalize homosexuality. We're talking about countries that execute people for homosexuality, and the Roman Catholic hierarchy is OK with that.
I have tried to keep an open mind about Catholicism, and most of the Catholics I have known don't seem all that crazy, but the Roman Catholic Church is really starting to freak me out with its political positions. I admit that the whole authoritarian underpinnings of Catholicism have always made it very unattractive to me, even creepy. I know that religions are all equally nutty when you get right down to it, but Catholicism's authoritarianism leads to very unfortunate results in the world if it is allowed to hold sway. Remember when the Catholic Church could kill you? And did? I get the feeling that Benedict would be all too happy to get back some of that temporal power.
Lately, the clergy has been holding its monopoly over access to God over the heads of believers who voted for Obama or who are not in favor of violence to prevent and punish abortion or stem cell research. Of course, most American Catholics whom I know just roll their eyes and ignore the Catholic heierarchy. They don't reallly believe that priests have magical powers. (The ones who take seriously the threat of being kept from God probably didn't vote for Obama anyway.) The Church doesn't seem to have a position on other issues like war which also kills a lot of children. At least, there are no threats against those who voted for an avowed warmonger.
It's also hard to respect an institution when its leader announces that my religion is false and that my church is not a real church because it's not Catholic. Bite me, Benedict. I don't recognize your authority no matter how big your hat is. You're just another preacher albeit of a mega mega church.
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