What to say about these two idiots and this ridiculous publicity stunt. The media know that is a publicity stunt but are happy to go along since piling on is all the fashion these days.
LONDON, April 11 (UPI) — Two British atheists say Pope Benedict XVI should be arrested during his visit to Britain for his role in cases of child sex abuse by priests.
The Sunday Times of London reported atheism campaigner Richard Dawkins and author Christopher Hitchens have asked human rights lawyers to draft a case for charging the pope for his alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
Human rights lawyer and United Nations judge Geoffrey Robertson wrote in The Guardian the pope should be tried for allegedly protecting predator priests.
“The Holy See can no longer ignore international law, which now counts the widespread or systematic sexual abuse of children as a crime against humanity,” Robertson wrote.
In September, Benedict is to visit London, Glasgow and Coventry, where he plans to beatify 19th-century Cardinal John Henry Newman.
They compare the arrest of the Pope to the arrest of Pinochet. I suppose if you are an atheist and a jerk, character assassination is no big deal.
If either one of these jackasses happens to visit Long Island, I will perform a citizens arrest. The charge? Asshattery.
April 12, 2010 at 11:32 pm
On an unrelated note, Helen took "Take it From a Sister", as in, she lifted the title from an article by a Catholic woman, where the author talked about an "emotional schism" within the Church (Helen conveniently used the same terminology in a post on the Catholic abuse tragedy).
April 12, 2010 at 11:40 pm
Correction – not the title, but a main quote from "Worlds Without Women" – NY Times.
April 13, 2010 at 12:56 am
@ Robert: We don't we don't spend 8 years in elementary school, 4 years in high school, 4 years in undergraduate, and 6 years in graduate school reading the same text book. I'd say in school during this period of time, we read over 200 text books. Not just One.
@ Paul: Who cares about old text today? Nobody! If you believe in old text like the bible you must also believe in Slavery, the Oppression of Women, and believe all Homosexuals are going to HELL!
Exodus 21: 20-21
"And if a man smite his SERVANT, or his maid, with a ROD, and he DIE under his hand; he shall be surely PUNISHED. Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his MONEY."
Exodus 21: 26-27
"And if a MAN smite the EYE of his SERVANT, or the eye of his maid, that it PERISH; he shall let him GO FREE for his eye's sake. And if he smite out his manservant's tooth, or his maidservant's tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake."
First Corinthians 14: 34-35
"Let your WOMEN keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to SPEAK; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a SHAME for women to SPEAK in the CHURCH."
Ephesians 5: 22-24
"Wives, SUBMIT yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the WIVES be to their own HUSBANDS in EVERY THING."
First Timothy 2: 11-14
"Let the WOMAN LEARN in SILENCE with all SUBJECTION. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was NOT deceived, but the WOMAN being deceived was in the TRANSGRESSION."
The bible has been used to justify slavery and is still is used to oppress woman. And we all knows about the poor homos. Yes, they are going to Hell.
Just because something was written three/two thousand years ago, and you don't understanding, doesn't mean it's right. Things change. The world changes.
What about the 30 million years before the bible was written by man? Should we be spending time reading the walls of caves to try and understand what the caveman wrote and live by that code?
The bible is not complicated to read it's very simple. I've read it from front to back.
@ Sue: Good catch. Smarty pants!! 🙂
April 13, 2010 at 1:38 am
Helen, you underscore the reason people need to TEACH these texts, and not simply quote them out of context, as you are doing. These statements (none of them from Our Lord) were made by His apostles to very specific groups of early Christians to address specific issues of the time. They are not verbatum pronoucements from God. If you thought they were, then this speaks to your ignorance on Christianity more than anything else.
April 13, 2010 at 1:56 am
A wild TROLL appeared!
Go, CATHOLIC!
The wild TROLL used RED HERRING!
What will CATHOLIC do?
CATHOLIC used LOGIC!
The wild TROLL became confused!
The wild TROLL is confused!
The wild TROLL used CANARD!
It's not very effective.
What will CATHOLIC do?
CATHOLIC used FACTS!
The wild TROLL is confused!
The wild TROLL used AD HOMINEM!
It's not very effective.
What will CATHOLIC do?
CATHOLIC used RESEARCH!
It's super effective!
The wild TROLL is confused!
It hurt itself in its confusion!
What will CATHOLIC do?
CATHOLIC used CHARITY!
The wild TROLL fainted!
April 13, 2010 at 2:01 am
I was going to make a "Don't feed trolls," comment, but then I read Leah's Catholic Text Adventures V 1.1 .
Dude, never mind. Feed the trolls all you want, that stuff's hilarious!
April 13, 2010 at 2:39 am
@ Early Riser
Dude, I said those statements were made by man. Read the text. NOTHING in the Bible is something God wrote.
Everything in the Bible IS written by man. Man THINKS God told him to says those things and wrote them down. Period.
April 13, 2010 at 4:47 am
Helen uh…no. Being inspired by God and being told by God are two different things. The NT quotes were written to specific people, just like you would write a letter to your friends (assuming you have any). You aren't very clever. Definitely out of your league.
April 13, 2010 at 11:59 am
@ Early Riser.
There are many people in the psychiatric hospital that are inspired by God everyday.
And yes you are very clever. You are in a league of your own.
April 13, 2010 at 1:09 pm
Helen,
So, the bottom line is that there is a basic disagreement about God, in general. Sadly, there are many people who believe that they hear from God, and yes, it is a scary thing. Or maybe just strange:-).
What saddens me on a fairly regular basis is the need to insult, especially from those who call themselves Catholic, Christian, or whatever the heck they want to call themselves. I am Catholic. I know a protestant pastor who always talks about Christians being surprised, annoyed, and even enraged when unbelievers act like unbelievers – like we can expect something else of them.
Whatever the case, I do hope that you find people of true faith somewhere in your life who extend to you the love of God. That is incredibly hard to dispute, even when we want to beat it off with a stick.
April 13, 2010 at 1:54 pm
To be clear, Dawkins and Hitchens are more than just annoying – they are attempting to destroy, which places them in a whole other category. And even they need the love of God. Shoot. What a pain.
April 13, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Helen – there are also people in the psychiatric hospital inspired by Satan, Manson, Stalin and the mumified remains of their great-grandmother that they keep in the basement. You seem to think making baseless accusations or throwing out a bunch of bible verses supports what you are saying. It really doesn't. So far you have not come up with anything to take what you've said from anything but mere baseless opinions into a compelling argument.
Check and mate.
April 13, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Helen – there are far MORE people outside asylums who are inspired by God, who do good, who are sensible and reasonable and virtuous in the every day world.
Leah – you win the thread! Fantastic!