NS,
This and its companion thread seem to me something you could take out the word Christian and submit almost any descriptor if some form of belief in how you should live,
That’s missing the heart of it I think. It's
dogmatic belief, not just belief that's the problem. If, say, I found yoga helpful and thought other people would too so should also live their lives that way there are various things I might do: I might teach an evening class; I might start a blog about it; I might even write a book extolling its virtues. What I
wouldn’t do though is to insist on seats in the legislature because of my convictions, special schools set aside in which my unqualified claims would be taught as facts, open door access to media outlets whenever they needed someone to pontificate on subjects about which I had no expertise at all. Nor would I use it to “other” groups of which I didn’t approve (those non-yoga-ists eh? Still, I’ll do my best to bring them to the true light – "hate the sin and love the sinner" and all that).
The primary issue isn’t I think about Christians who make my “skin crawl” (though many do) but rather that Christianity (and Islam, and Judaism, and…) make my skin crawl. “But Auntie Doreen is a god-fearing woman and she’s really nice” I don’t doubt for a minute. What I also see though is grotesque stuff that’s so commonplace, so ingrained that it’s hiding in plain sight and so goes largely unremarked. When that nice Archbishop Welby tells us he’s "struggling deeply with the issue of homosexuality" for example, then my reaction is if you’ll pardon my French is, “well fuck you then.” Who the hell does he think he is even to think that there
is “an issue” at all, and how dare he give cover to those who would beat up gay men on the street. Look, it’s very simple: either you think equality is paramount or you don’t. If you do, then show some moral leadership (you know, the thing Archbishops are supposed to do) and say so loudly and clearly; if you don’t, then you’re part of the problem and not the solution. And yes I’ve heard the defence of, “but if I did the right thing bishops in Africa even more backward on this than I am would break away and that would be even worse for gay people there” but his current ambivalence also comes at a cost, and if he doesn’t show moral leadership to his own church then who will?
And so it goes. The RCs directly responsible for killing, what, hundreds of thousands every year with policies that cause unsustainably large families, the unchecked spread of AIDS, personal misery for millions for perfectly harmless (and probably healthy) sexual practices. What’s that you say, “but we’ve opened some clinics for AIDS victims, and some homes for “fallen” women”? So you bloody well should – when you cause the problem in the first place, don’t use as a defence putting a sticking plaster over it in the hope no-one notices.
Oh, and while we’re here this is what faith that thinks it knows – really
knows – better than “mere” reason does. It gives these people a higher calling than the dull old secular law so if they get the word that a priest is raping children, not a problem – we’ll just move him elsewhere so he can wreck a few more lives. After all, God knows best and has a higher purpose for him right? And if the heat really gets a bit much, still not a problem – we’ll just whip him back to HQ so the local plod can’t reach him at all. Job done!
And there’s more – so much more. I know – let’s convince priests that the sanctity of the confessional is such that, even if someone tells you he’s planted a bomb in a classroom of children set to go off an hour later, you’re still not allowed to shop him. Better to have the kiddies blown to smithereens than to displease my imaginary (but ever so good, honest) god eh?
So no, I don’t admire these people at all. Not because their beliefs are palpably idiotic, but because we privilege those beliefs in public life such that they get taken seriously and so can actually
matter. So for every po-faced, holier-than-though, Thought for the Day reading, “I know better than you because I have faith, and I’m am better person too”, minority hating, misogynistic, paedophile protecting, education polluting, science denying, inequality supporting, patronising cleric and their fellow travellers I say “fuck you” too. Disestablish your churches, stop taking tax payer money, re-open as private members’ clubs if you must and we can all point and laugh as we do the flat-earthers.
Until then though, yes they do make my skin crawl even though I’d happily have a cup of tea and a garibaldi with Auntie Doreen if she wanted me to.
And another thing…
