Cynical Streak

Tony Perkins, leader of “pro-family,” Christan fundamentalist group
Family Research Council…said about the Mark Foley scandal on CNN:

“It shouldn’t be totally surprising; when we hold up tolerance and diversity as the guidepost for public life, this is what you end up getting. You get Congressmen chasing sixteen year old boys down the halls of Congress.”

What did Jesus say about tolerance and diversity?

Inclusion
John 3:16. Perhaps this is the most recited verse in the Bible. Jesus said it as plainly and simply as He could. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Talk about inclusion! “Whosoever” is a huge word. It means that anyone who wants “in” just has to say the word. No one is left out.

Tolerance
John 3:17. This follows the verse that is perhaps the most recited verse in the Bible. Jesus was still talking in plain and simple terms. “For God sent His Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” In his letter to the Romans, Paul carried forward with the same theme: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” Christianity does not carry a message of intolerance or condemnation, but a message of reconciliation and salvation.
CARadke

So the right-wingers blame the liberals. Foley apparently blames booze, conveniently checking into rehab for alcoholism. Didn’t he hear that Jesus was quite fond of wine?

Why is it that Christian politicians are so un-Christlike?

It’s pretty pathetic when an atheist has to school Christian leaders on the teachings of Jesus.

Watching David Blaine’s endurance stunt, in which he damn near killed himself, I wondered, could this be good for proponants of self mortification? With Time Magazine’s recent cover story on Opus Dei exposing the practice of whipping the shit out of yourself for the love of Jesus, maybe Blaine is inadvertantly promoting personal mutilation to the masses.

To quote the Happy Catholic,

To serve others requires mortification, a continuing realisation of the presence of God, and a forgetting of self.

Now, this is utter bullshit, meant to humiliate and guilt people into tithe paying, sexual repression and obedient service. The Pope, in his guilded palace and Prada shoes, clearly doesn’t practice this type of torture on himself.

At least Blaine gets a likely lucrative TV deal out of it. But the last thing we need is a big public spectacle making it sexy to beat yourself to a pulp for no apparent reason.

The Vatican is reconsidering its ban on condoms by married couples when one spouse is HIV positive. If you and your spouse are about to get amorous and the hang-ups of this guy pop into your head, then perhaps you shouldn’t bother. If you empower someone who looks like Marilyn Manson at 80 to inform your reproductive decisions, your gene pool is not likely meant to survive to the next generation anyway. The Catholic church is so obsessed with outpacing the population of Muslims, it can’t bear the thought of a single drop of life juice wasted. AIDS epidemic, shmepidemic; have 10 babies, then die of AIDS. At least you were a good Catholic!

Can someone please explain to me why anyone voluntarily stays in this club? (Uh, except my Dad, who’s finally finished paying off my 20 years of private Catholic schooling.)