I haven’t been called a cannibal since the 70’s. Firstly, I can explain what happened that day. The pizza guy wouldn’t deliver, my buddy was sleeping and I just thought “Wow, ten toes is a lot to have.” Oh wait, Richard Dawkins wasn’t talking about me personally. He means that all Catholics are cannibals. Whew!
I like when Dawkins is angry. Dawkins’ anger is clarifying for me. It’s one of the most assured ways of knowing that Pope Benedict made a great decision. Here’s my pet theory – If Dawkins, Maureen Dowd, or James Carroll is outraged then I’m automatically giggly. And based on how mad they’ve all been recently, I should be very giggly.
In the Washington Post today, Dawkins’ flipped through his insult thesaurus and called the Catholic Church all sorts of polysyllabic names including misogynistic, cannibalistic, homophobic, and the greatest force for evil in the world.
What’s at the root of this outpouring of liberal anger over Pope Benedict’s decision to accept Anglicans who are interested in converting to Catholicism? It seems to be a highly selective anger. Did you know that at least 6,000 Christians were forcibly reconverted to Hinduism in Mumbai earlier this week because of the strong-arming violence from some Hindu groups, according to Asia news.
Heard about it from the media? Nope. Not a peep about forced conversions of Christians to Hinduism but you’ve heard the Pope’s offer to Anglicans labeled a “Blitzkrieg” or an “assault.”
You know, I’m starting to think the media doesn’t much like Christianity. And they might just hate Catholicism. But why? Not because it is the greatest force for evil in the world as they say but because it’s the greatest force for preventing their worldview of abortion on demand, the dissolution of marriage, the degradation of sex, and the destruction of families from coming to fruition.
October 29, 2009 at 1:59 am
Amen Amen !!
The Sophists/relativists/ gnostics are mad, as usual.
October 29, 2009 at 2:42 am
"all Catholics are cannibals" so Dawkins finally accepts the Real Presence?
October 29, 2009 at 4:25 am
I get them [gigglies] too. Now, I am waiting to hear that we really carry out human sacrifice.
October 29, 2009 at 6:23 am
Isn't this guy the same one who gets frothing-at-the-mouth nasty about Mother Teresa?
I mean, really….
October 29, 2009 at 11:49 am
You'd think after 2000 years they could come up with something new!
Hey, I've got it: the plot for the next Dan Brown novel…"Dan's hero finds a 2000 anti-Catholic writer's manual hidden deep within Richard Dawkins' sock drawer…"
October 29, 2009 at 12:22 pm
A man's character can be gauged not only by the company he keeps but by the people he hacks off. Looks like the Pope is one heckuva guy!
October 29, 2009 at 1:41 pm
They don't stone a fruitless tree.
October 29, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Rick,
It's true that Nobody kicks a dead Dog.
October 29, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Kiran,
Accuse us of human sacrifice? They already have.
Following the hot topic of abortion, Sister Helen Prejean tackled another: calling for abolition of the death penalty to raucous applause at the DNC’s interfaith gathering.
She received nothing but a stony silence, however, when she questioned the basis of the biblical crucifixion story as a “projection of our violent society.”
“Is this a God?” Prejeans asked about the belief that God allowed his son, Jesus, to be sacrificed for the sins of humanity. “Or is this an ogre?”
October 29, 2009 at 3:35 pm
"all Catholics are cannibals" so Dawkins finally accepts the Real Presence?
Har. I'd like to see him answer that question.
You're right. It's about control – about making the people who believe in morality and God and Natural Law and the proper expression of sexuality and the sacredness of life give up those views for a liberalized, libertine clture that wants no consequence for their actions or choices.
When the Holy Father gave traditional Anglicans recourse to escape the insanity pervasive in the Anglican hierarchy, he also gave them an escape from being browbeating into compromising their faith. He said, to the liberal Anglicans and Catholics, your attemtps to remake religion – and therefore God – in your own image will not work in Rome.
And the more people criticize and condemn Catholicism, the less it makes me feel bad and the more it convinces me I've made the right choice and Catholicism is the ONE TRUE FAITH. No other faith receives nearly as much vitriol as the Catholic Church, which means we stand in contrast to the destruction of morality in our culture.
October 29, 2009 at 4:18 pm
You know, I'm starting to think the media doesn't much like Christianity. And they might just hate Catholicism. But why? Not because it is the greatest force for evil in the world as they say but because it's the greatest force for preventing their worldview of abortion on demand, the dissolution of marriage, the degradation of sex, and the destruction of families from coming to fruition.
I couldn't have said it better myself.
October 29, 2009 at 10:48 pm
Hmmm… Gospel of Matthew comes to mind here when He speaks about the division he will bring between brothers, mothers and their children, etc. Jesus also tells us He will build His Church. As shepherds/ flock members, it's not our calling to change it in the fundamentals of what Christ called it to be.
I'm also thinking about the Beatitudes- specifically the last one about people cursing and reviling us for His sake. These kind of attacks give me a warm fuzzy feeling because if they're attacking us for standing up for the Church Christ founded, as He founded it (note how Christ picked Peter, a married man for the first Pope- he clearly wants a male, heterosexual clergy*).
*Disclaimer, just because Christ picked Peter, a married man does not mean that celibate clergy are against His wishes… Just look at all the Apostles who were unmarried and remained so for the sake of evangelization of the Good News. Plus Paul's exhortation about accepting "eunicism" -ie: celebacy- for the sake of the Kingdom. I think there's something about the unmarried clergy being a strict Discipline in our Church, but not a Dogma… PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong.
October 30, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Foxfier,
Actually, I think it's Christopher Hitchens who gets frothing at the mouth about Mother Teresa.
It's hard to keep publicity-seeking atheists straight these days…. 🙂
October 30, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Ah, you're right– CH goes bonkers about Mother Teresa, and RD is the "aliens did it" origin of life guy.
I just have a hard time taking some folks seriously….
October 30, 2009 at 7:04 pm
For what it's worth, I posted the following comment under the Dawkins' piece on the WaPo site:
Dr. Dawkins has (and I suspect this is not the first occasion) missed the point altogether. England, first evangelized by St. Augustine of Canterbury, sent by Pope Gregory in 595, is perhaps on the verge of returning to the faith from which King Henry violently divided it five centuries ago. Dr. Dawkins seizes this occasion to tell us that he prefers the face of the Archbishop of Canterbury to that of the pope, that the Catholic Church teaches certain doctrines to which he himself does not hold, to speculate upon the motives of those involved, to re-publish a parody concerning a person he professes not to know, and to offer other commentary which bears with equal force upon the topic of Anglican/Catholic reunion. None of this comes as a surprise to those who know anything of Dr. Dawkins' views, except perhaps the extent to which they proceed from speculation rather than evidence, and his taste in humor, which may be described charitably as undemanding. Anglicans considering reunion with Rome will give Dr. Dawkins' views due consideration, and matters will proceed. Although Dr. Dawkins may not have shed much light upon the topic of religious reunion, he has in the course of his commentary revealed quite a bit about himself, and I'm afraid none of it does him credit.