I am quite used to Christianity being attacked. So it should not be a surprise that The New Yorker magazine attacked Pope Benedict last week. But this latest salvo in the culture war from writer Jane Kramer is such an all out assault on Catholicism that even John Edward’s bloggers would be taken aback. Never mind that the sweethearts published it the week of Easter.
In a piece entitled, “The Pope and Islam” Jane Kramer starts with this precious line – “Benedict wants to purify the Church, to make it more observant, obedient, and disciplined-more like the way he sees Islam.”
Just so you know, you’re supposed to be aghast at that line. Islam!? This ploy is akin to the old standby Nazi accusation standby which goes something like, “When you are losing an argument call the other person a Nazi and slam the door on your way out so at least the stupid people in the room will think you’ve won the argument.”
But Kramer doesn’t have the smarts to leave. She thinks she’s on a roll. She continues:

“It is well known that Benedict wants to transform the Church of Rome, which is not to say that he wants to make it more responsive to the realities of modern life as it is lived by Catholic women in the West, or by Catholic homosexuals, or even by the millions of desperately poor Catholic families in the Third World who are still waiting for some merciful dispensation on the use of contraception. He wants to purify the Church, to make it more definitively Christian, more observant, obedient, and disciplined—you could say more like the way he sees Islam.”

Ahem…you’re supposed to be aghast again.

I love when people say the church needs to respond to modern times by which they mainly mean abortion and homosexuality. I’m confused, is she saying that homosexuals and babies didn’t exist until modern times so we have to adapt to this current outbreak of homosexuality and babies?
So this isn’t really about modern times at all. It’s about the church conforming to the will of all too modern Jane Kramer. Note to Jane – The church is not a democracy. It is an institution founded by God and guided by the Holy Spirit. And nobody is required to join.
If you don’t like it don’t join. We’ll pray for you.
Secularists fall all over themselves screeching how irrelevant the Church is today and then scream that the church is the most oppressive institution in the world. Which is it?
The New Yorker should be embarrassed. Something tells me they’re not. Jane Kramer is simply attacking anyone and any institution which doesn’t conform to her worldview like well…Islam.