I've been an atheist for a long while now. I've loathed the catholic church for longer. This article (reproduced below in case the link doesn't work) pretty much explains why.
Usually the doings of the church pretty much flow off me like water off the proverbial duck's back. This, however, is too much. Who cares about a child's life after all. And a girl child at that.
I can't even begin to understand how people can follow a church that will allow such things. A church for whom giving an abortion to a nine year old is worse than systematically raping her**. A church that doesn't hesitate to excommunicate those people who are willing to help her - yet does not see fit to excommunicate her abuser. A church whose highest instance (I'm talking to you, you jerkoff of a Pope) approves this travesty. I can't begin to understand how people can look up to this institution.
Organized religion is a boil on the skin of civilisation.
How do I hate these people? Let me count the ways.
OK, after rewriting this several times in order to seem at least partly sane, I'll leave you with yesterday's quote:
Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power.
**Of couse the question begs an answer: Did mom have her head up her ass the whole time this was happening? But that's a subject for another post.
Church excommunicates mother of 9-year-old rape victim – but not accused rapist
Brazil rocked by abortion for raped child - Monday, 9 March 2009
Declaring that "life must always be protected", a senior Vatican cleric has defended the Catholic Church's decision to excommunicate the mother and doctors of a nine-year-old rape victim who had a life-saving abortion in Brazil.
Cardinal Giovanni Batista Re, who heads the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, told reporters that although the girl fell pregnant after apparently being abused by her stepfather, her twins had, "the right to live, and could not be eliminated".
In an interview with the Italian newspaper, La Stampa, the cardinal added: "It is a sad case but the real problem is that the twins conceived were two innocent persons. Life must always be protected."
Police believe the girl was sexually assaulted for years by her stepfather, possibly since she was six. That she was four months pregnant with twins emerged only after she was taken to hospital complaining of severe stomach pains.
The controversy represents a PR nightmare for the Vatican. The unnamed girl's mother and doctors were excommunicated for agreeing to Wednesday's emergency abortion yet the Church has not taken formal steps against the stepfather, who is in custody. Jose Cardoso Sobrinho, the conservative regional archbishop for Pernambuco where the girl was rushed to hospital, has said that the man would not be thrown out of the Church, because although he had allegedly committed "a heinous crime", the Church took the view that "the abortion, the elimination of an innocent life, was more serious".
The case has set off fierce debate in Brazil, where abortion is permitted only in cases of rape or a medical emergency. Brazil is one of the most populous Catholic countries, but conservative attitudes in rural areas are strongly at odds with the relatively progressive public view of abortion in major cities.
Even the President, Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, has waded into the row. "As a Christian and a Catholic, I deeply regret that a bishop of the Catholic Church has such a conservative attitude," he said "The doctors did what had to be done: save the life of a girl of nine years old. In this case, the medical profession was more right than the Church."
One of the doctors involved in the abortion, Rivaldo Albuquerque, has raised the prospect of public clashes at his local church, telling Globo, the nation's main TV network, that he would keep going to mass there, regardless of the archbishop's order. The young girl at the centre of the case escaped excommunication only because she is still a child in the eyes of Church authorities. The stepfather, who is 23, was arrested last week, apparently trying to escape to another region of the country. Police say he is also suspected of abusing the girl's handicapped 14-year-old sister. He is in protective custody, and if convicted faces up to 15 years in prison.
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Church excommunicates mother of 9-year-old rape victim – but not accused rapist
Brazil rocked by abortion for raped child - Monday, 9 March 2009
Declaring that "life must always be protected", a senior Vatican cleric has defended the Catholic Church's decision to excommunicate the mother and doctors of a nine-year-old rape victim who had a life-saving abortion in Brazil.
Cardinal Giovanni Batista Re, who heads the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, told reporters that although the girl fell pregnant after apparently being abused by her stepfather, her twins had, "the right to live, and could not be eliminated".
In an interview with the Italian newspaper, La Stampa, the cardinal added: "It is a sad case but the real problem is that the twins conceived were two innocent persons. Life must always be protected."
Police believe the girl was sexually assaulted for years by her stepfather, possibly since she was six. That she was four months pregnant with twins emerged only after she was taken to hospital complaining of severe stomach pains.
The controversy represents a PR nightmare for the Vatican. The unnamed girl's mother and doctors were excommunicated for agreeing to Wednesday's emergency abortion yet the Church has not taken formal steps against the stepfather, who is in custody. Jose Cardoso Sobrinho, the conservative regional archbishop for Pernambuco where the girl was rushed to hospital, has said that the man would not be thrown out of the Church, because although he had allegedly committed "a heinous crime", the Church took the view that "the abortion, the elimination of an innocent life, was more serious".
The case has set off fierce debate in Brazil, where abortion is permitted only in cases of rape or a medical emergency. Brazil is one of the most populous Catholic countries, but conservative attitudes in rural areas are strongly at odds with the relatively progressive public view of abortion in major cities.
Even the President, Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, has waded into the row. "As a Christian and a Catholic, I deeply regret that a bishop of the Catholic Church has such a conservative attitude," he said "The doctors did what had to be done: save the life of a girl of nine years old. In this case, the medical profession was more right than the Church."
One of the doctors involved in the abortion, Rivaldo Albuquerque, has raised the prospect of public clashes at his local church, telling Globo, the nation's main TV network, that he would keep going to mass there, regardless of the archbishop's order. The young girl at the centre of the case escaped excommunication only because she is still a child in the eyes of Church authorities. The stepfather, who is 23, was arrested last week, apparently trying to escape to another region of the country. Police say he is also suspected of abusing the girl's handicapped 14-year-old sister. He is in protective custody, and if convicted faces up to 15 years in prison.
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18 comments:
You know, I'm not quite an atheist, but I sure do hate religion and this is just another huge block in the wall against religion.
Fucking assholier than thou bastards.
And only "up to 15 years in prison"! WHAT THE FUCK!
I saw this story elsewhere and couldn't believe it. Words fail me. It is madness. Organised religion is just like organised crime - it's a Mafia that if you don't do it their way then they'll make you an offer you can't refuse. Then whack you.
what do you call that show where the guy pretends to talk to the dead... oh wait... oh yeah... it's called church.
"Organized religion is a boil on the skin of civilisation."
All of them, and in all instances? I certainly understand how an atheist might find most church practices bizarre, but (excuse this in connection with this story) aren't you throwing out the baby with the bathwater?
Surely, there are individual believers and practitioners who are, on balance, more beneficial to the world than they are destructive. Easy enough to come up with Mother Theresa, for one, and I'd include Fred (Mister) Rogers for another. The Dalai Lama, perhaps, from another camp?
As a Christian, I certainly recognize the worth and value of many non-believers, and many institutions that are avowedly non-believing. As a former member of the Catholic Church, I understand a distaste for that institution. But a blanket assertion like this rankles me a bit, since I still consider myself part of an "organized religion."
Just my two cents, of course, and I've been known to use stronger pejoratives on my own blog, so take it as you wish :-)
Amen to that lil' sister.
I also consider myself part of an organized religion, but I find the behavior of the Vatican, in this instance, to be shocking.
I agree with Suldog that; surely not all people in all religions are as extremely hard-headed, callous and nit-picking as these individuals.
I am not a fan of abortion, but EVERY story has its own tale, and I can't reconcile the Bible saying all sin is equal, and the Vatican claiming "the abortion, the elimination of an innocent life, was more serious".
I couldn't anything more than you did. You covered the ground and amen to your words and thoughts. It's just staggering.
It is very clear who the sinners are in this case. That's despicable.
I can't type as loudly as I'm yelling in my head right now.
Well since my country has been attacked so much by foreign bloggers in the last year or so, I was going to say something like, "This is an example of why we think most foreign countries are backward." But then I realized I'd get a whole new slew of American hate. Then I thought to as you, Jazz, why any of the church's actions bother you if you don't put any stock in it as an institution anyway. At least the actual government is doing something. I mean those people were excommunicated from something that seems wrong to begin with, so they don't lose anything, right? The thing to be mad about, to me, is that a step-dad was chronically raping his child step-daughter. And how could the mother not know? And that could happen anywhere.
Suldog & CPJ - I admit I might have gone overboard. OK, I did go overboard - and I toned down my gut reaction a whole lot.
I was just so pissed off at how the thing was handled. That child would have died without an abortion fer chrisssake. She. Is. Nine. Years. OLD!
Having slept on it I realize (as I did then, though my judgment was, to say the least clouded) that most people who are part of organized religions are not like that. That people, regardless of their allegiance are for the most part good people just doing their best, and that pretty much every catholic I know would be just as angry as I am. Mea culpa dudes.
Geewits - For starters this isn't about foreign countries being backwards. It's about the catholic church being backwards. And any comment that tosses "I hate you americans" here would be deleted. Cos I loves me my Geewits...
As to why it bothers me? Honestly, it usually doesn't. But this is just so beyond stupid that it drives me crazy. In the catholic faith excommunication is the worst thing that can happen to you. It's a ticket straight to hell if you believe in that. It's the principle of the thing really. That they would do that to people for helping a child who would otherwise die - because no 9 year old can carry twins to term - galls me to a point I can't even begin to explain. Maybe because I was catholic once. I dunno.
And about mum and dad - as I said at the bottom of my post, that's a subject for another day. In my opinion, mom is just as guilty as the step dad and should be thrown in prison too. She can't have not known, and to have let this go on for that long (with BOTH her daughters). As far as I'm concerned that makes her an accomplice.
Words fail me...
It is just absurd, but it had to be expected and it shows that we should never, ever, ever let any religion, organised or not, rule public or private life.
For me organized religion is unpalatable, but whatever gets people through their days without harming others is okay with me. I suspect this ruling by this bishop is not going to be upheld after all the public outcry. BUT I'm a lot more concerned that this pedophile, rapist, abuser is only getting 15 years jail time-- maybe. That's not even a done deal yet. With parole he'll be out in 5 at age 28. The church has been fucked up forever and there's not much we can do to change it, but we really, really have to get on to the judicial system that gives more severe punishments for things like armed robbery than it does for any crime against children.
Words fail me.
This makes me want to weep and tear something to shreds.
I was raised Catholic and it being Lent and all I've done a lot of soul-searching possibly about my having left the church. Thank you for reminding me why that was - the hypocrisy is astounding.
Disgusting. All of it.
I have read it somewhere before and I couldn't believe it.
Was it just yesterday that the pope gave the speech about condoms contributing to AIDS? Yes, I think it was.
He said they are part of the problem, cause people now have this idea they are being safe, and they should just all abstain.
Abstaining is great, but don't make up shit dude. Condoms are NOT contributing to Aids.
I'm all levels of mad now.
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