Last week saw the Pope once again meddling with things he has no fucking idea about. Urging AIDS ridden Africa to dispense with condom use is an absolutely vile abuse of power. How did sex ever become a sin? And how did contraception become a greater sin? It’s absurd and downright insidious and the sooner the world rids of this atrocious belief that the Pope somehow speaks for God the sooner will the world be a healthier and safer place.

It boggles the mind how these clowns come up with such prohibitions. We probably can guess why they concoct fabrications of such nonsense – not because they truly believe that condom use is the downfall of morality and the fastest path to hell or that it offers no protection against sexually transmitted disease but because the controversy keeps the church from fading into distant memory. What better way to gain publicity than by throwing an outlandish proposition into the public domain knowing full well that it will sell news and thus keeping the catholic meme alive when it should have died with the last witch put to the stake. Seriously, are we really supposed to entertain the Pope having anything resembling sense when the institution he represents believed that witches existed and then burnt them for flying on broom sticks? Come On!

Why do people heed the “commandments” of some vain idiot in a hideous robe, who clearly is living with a 16th century infantile mindset? Wake up, this is the 21st century and the time for childish religiosity is well and truly over. One can only wish that there exists a God who is enthroned in heaven, so that when judgement time arrives, we the people can then be juried upon the trial of God’s men who speaketh vile instructions that enhance only their power stranglehold on the meek of mind and stupidly superstitious. If it wasn’t bad enough that the gullible believe that wearing a condom is a sure fire path to everlasting torment in the depths of Hell, what sort of God permits His name to be invoked by clergy who peddle this rubbish?

It’s entirely okay for the Pope lay claim to spiritual matters about the ethics of rubber, that isn’t the real issue, because in the end, who cares about the opinion of some antiquated fool? The issue lies in the power that such a figure holds over the people of the Catholic persuasion and the fact that these people all too often have influential positions and are all too ready to lay lives on the line over the absurd morality of rubber. The absolute folly of having the steadfast moral opinion that rubber is evil, to hold the opinion that AIDS victims are deserving of the disease because they succumb to purported “sin”, is that love in humanity is lost over abstract notions of some higher order law that makes no sense.

In a perfect world, yes, abstinence would be an ideal solution but we don’t live in a perfect world and we never will. Sex is not a sin, it is normal human activity, a natural phenomenon. Humanity evolved to a place where we can make choices about when we procreate and when we feel pleasure. This is not a sin! This is exactly how nature intended it to be, if it is not then we wouldn’t have the choice to begin with. We can make moral judgements about nature but it cares little for absurd notions of right and wrong. The sex drive will overcome the hell fire of a non existent afterlife pretty much most of the time, of course there will be a few who choose celibacy but this is the exception rather than the rule. Having the opinion that we should live according to some higher standard or moral definition while refusing to accept reality is sheer lunacy. The fact remains, people are going to have sex and ignoring this fact and relying on fear-mongering to rectify something which doesn’t fit neatly into a idealised world view is a recipe for disaster.

As individuals we have a choice and no one will take exception to one’s own belief that condom use is the root of all evil but when public policy is manipulated by the choice of individuals over the rights of other individuals we are essentially treading into dangerous territory and if the church becomes entangled with the state then what eventuates is theocracy and we know what happens when the god squad  gain an upper hand – smoke begins to bellow at the stake.

My oh my! The Catholics again shed their true colours. Denial isn’t a river in Egypt. Another Bishop is in on the conspiracy of denial – the outrageous comment by Bishop Fisher, “dwelling crankily on old wounds” is further proof of the denial that the Catholic Church is so fond of. Nevermind the absurd and dangerous doctrine of birth control, the perpetuity of denying the churches sexual abuse victims is absolutely vile. Just sweep it under the rug and it will go away. Excuse us but it is not going away because the church has no concept of the damage that their brethren are inflicting and are still inflicting. Comments like those of Bishop Fisher are unforgivable and are akin to driving salt in fresh wounds and it isn’t too far a stretch of the imagination that the wounds will always be a sore spot in the souls of the sufferers.

This Fisher character just takes the cake, the absolute arrogance of spiritual elitism that seems endemic to the upper echelons of the Catholic Church and I would argue a vast majority of churches, of whatever denomination, is where the problem lies. I can’t help but wonder what goes through the minds of these insensitive and inhumane men? Do they believe that the “old wounds” can simply be washed away if the victims just prayed to Jesus and that Jesus would then make it all go away? Is that the thinking by which they justify their denial? To think Bishop Fisher is the World Youth Day organiser, is this the face which young, impressionable youth are to look up to as a role model of spirituality? Is the spirituality of the Catholic faith a denial of humanity, a denial of the human condition with only room for an imaginary God that no matter what ought to be worshipped according to the tenets of denial? Is the Catholic faith so callous as to deny human beings of their humanity?

What exactly is the Catholic Church trying to protect with its denial? Even though the church has ostensibly admitted guilt it is vehemently treating itself as though innocent. It is not! It has a duty of care which it has demonstrably violated and by maintaining the appearance of repentance it is just injuring victims further. It needs to overhaul its policy by treating the victims of its insidious internal malfeasance with the validation and open heart which they deserve. No more caps on compensation. No more denial. No more treating victims as though they are the guilty. Stringent background and psychometric testing of would be priests.  The Pope saying sorry is not the be all that will bring about healing, it is merely a start and there appears a long way to go before the Catholic Church can be trusted.

Today’s news has been usurped by viral marketing direct from the dungeons of Vatican 2.0. And how pathetic and loathsome these addendum’s are! The addition of pedophilia in particular makes one’s stomach churn with rage when this addition on its surface seems to reek of the Catholic Churches vain attempt to make amends for the sins of its very own. How insulting to the victims. Yet the omission of covering up for pedophiles in the ranks of its priesthood from the addendum is testimony to the phoniness of these alleged “sins”, singing loudly of the churches arrogance and guilt mongering. Its purported infallibility a sham at best and absolutely bestial at worst.  If it wasn’t enough; to add insult upon injury they have now heralded the sinfulness of genetic engineering, all whilst they dish out crackers made from genetically modified wheat metamorphosed into the “body of Christ”. Isn’t this transmutation a genetic modification in of itself anyway? Hypocrisy abounds, the whole remake of sins would be laughable if it wasn’t so tragic. One need only look at the millions of people the Catholic faith kills with its idiotic and insane demands, case in point; the sin of putting a piece of rubber on ya dick to prevent transmission of AIDS. With such absurd doctrines I am perpetually aghast at how anyone with sane disposition can believe in articles of faith filled with such tripe.

On more insanity infecting the landscape, it was reported on Four Corners that the residents of Camden are riling against the coming of a school espousing Muslim ideals. I sit here in ignorant apathy and am more than a little perplexed by the passionate attitudes by people sitting on both sides of the divide. I personally see no problem with having a school exclusively devoted to the Muslim faith considering we already have Judea-Christian schools and its not all that uncommon for religious memes to infect all manner of peoples to the same incoherent extent. Although it probably isn’t in the best interests for Muslims to build a school where its residents are racially/religiously fired up. It may be of some concern if tensions should escalate beyond peaceable means. But perhaps the media beats up this tension to levels that are not representative of reality. Who really knows but it wouldn’t surprise me if the attitudes of so called Australians are in keeping with media portrayals and on the same token that Muslim sensitivities are offended beyond reasonable comprehension. I’ll not beat around the bush and say I’m outraged by such religious intolerance, however I’d also point out that I’m not at all unsympathetic to the concerns the residents of Camden are expressing. However this Country has in its constitution the freedom to practice whichever religion takes one’s fancy and as citizens of this country it perhaps is the Australian thing to do, to adhere to the constitution lest such religious intolerance is turned towards traditional Christian values also (although it may not be such a bad thing if all religious schools are disbanded all together – especially when Catholicism has announced its particular brand of absurdity to the world and further dumbfounded secular communities around the globe, who now have extra work to do to just appeal to the rational sensibilities of the pious).

Perhaps all the fear and intolerant attitudes that follow are exclusive of religious sentiment and can be transcribed into racial prejudice only, but is it? I can’t really say if religious sensibilities are the cause for all this conflict when I have no experience with religious life. To me any faith is bad faith if it is beyond rational discourse and I couldn’t say one way or another if said religiosity has any influence in the position one has with regards to cultural and thus racial differences and conflict. In any case and in particular Camden; I can imagine that it does play a significant role in fueling intolerant points of view. The fact that the school is explicitly a Muslim school will invariably invoke images of planes flying into buildings, whether justly or otherwise, this appears to be the world we live in and everyday ours fears are somehow reinforced by the slogan “War on Terror” or should it read “War is Peace”?.

It’s hard to imagine that belief in an imaginary God can cause so many problems on so many planes but it does appear that faith in the supernatural does pertain to violent passions and at the very least to idiotic rhetoric. If the school in Camden wasn’t dedicated to Muslims would it have such heated discussions such as those that have been portrayed in the media? Would a secular school for middle eastern peoples invoke such protest?