The leaders of the Catholic Church attack people and groups who disagree with them with such a degree of insensitivity that it’s scarcely to be believed. They say that people who disagree with its views on contraception are part of a “culture of death.” They claim that people who have a different notion of when life begins are murdering babies.
They assert that certain groups are “unnatural,” immoral and can never be forgiven for being in love in a way that is unnatural. Of course the Church never endures such harsh criticism itself. That would be sacrilegious. However, such unfair treatment might make them more sensitive when it comes to dealing with other groups. So here, I’ll give a purposefully unfair treatment of Catholic policies to show just how hurtful such methods can be:
One thing that really bugged me in recent weeks was the Church’s treatment of Israel. The Catholic Church released a statement condemning terrorist attacks in many places, but did not include attacks on Israel in its list of terrorist attacks worthy of condemnation. The Israeli government pointed this out, and the Church responded by saying that they could not condemn such attacks because of the responses by the Israeli government. This smacks of blaming the Israelis for the terrorism they incur. Now these are dangerous waters into which the Church shouldn’t tread, especially considering the Church had an especially regrettable “Blame Jews for Everything” policy prior to Vatican II.
Moreover, what Church leaders didn’t include in their response is that the Church is a very big reason Israel is forced to endure such attacks and hate from their neighbors. You see, had the Church not encouraged discrimination and hate against Jews in Europe for centuries, they would have not felt so compelled to flee to Israel. Also, had the Church not made a Faustian bargain with the up-and-coming Nazi party for political influence, Hitler would have never gained the political power needed to prosecute the genocide which annihilated the Jewish populations of Europe and made a homeland for Jews in Palestine necessary.
Another thing that bugs me is the Church’s policy toward contraception in Africa. Even though it is a known fact that condoms prevent the spread of AIDS, the Catholic Church refuses to distribute condoms in Africa, and fires well-meaning clergy who attempt to distribute the condoms. This has contributed to the spread of AIDS to countless people there. The Church’s response is that it is against their belief system to have sex with condoms. This is absolutely nonsensical. How is killing sperm against Catholic doctrine, while allowing people to die to enforce such a doctrine is OK?
The Catholic Church accuses everyone around them of being part of a “culture of death” yet they endorse policies which increase the number of people dying of AIDS in Africa. Somehow, in the eyes of people like the Pope, the metaphorical culture of death is worse than the actual culture of death simmering because of AIDS in Africa. I guess the rest of us just haven’t been divinely inspired enough to agree with them.
Yet another place where the Catholic Church fails is in its treatment of homosexuals. It calls homosexuals disordered individuals on par with those with mental illnesses. The Church has recently gone so far as to conduct a kind of sexual inquisition in seminaries to rid the clergy of anyone who might be gay.
Again, this shows a little bit of insensitivity considering the Church’s past, when it would burn convicted homosexuals at the stake for the crime (the burning stakes are where we get the slur “faggot” by the way). Also, it calls to question the Church’s call to respect all people and give everyone equal dignity. In this case, the Church allows only certain people to serve God, leaving those not blessed with the correct sexual orientation out of the fold. Those people must instead shut up, stay celibate, wait to die and hope God saves them …
Such criticism of the Church is certainly a little slanted and very hurtful, though nothing I said was untrue. However, I did this to make a point. If you are a strong Catholic and were offended, this was the reaction I hoped to provoke. The Catholic Church offends so many every day with its unfair, arrogant and self-righteous pronouncements. If the Catholic Church felt the sting of such criticism from an equally authoritative and largely followed institution it would certainly call for the toning down of the language. But because it doesn’t, it continues unabated. By showing how hurtful such insensitive criticism can be, I hope that Catholics will realize how important it is to pressure their Church to express its beliefs in a more respectful manner.