Ever since the Pope's Liturgical Mystery Tour of the UK was first mentioned last year, and finally confirmed this week, we haven't quite known what to make of it. As the editors of an iconoclastic Godless magazine, we're inclined to look forward to Benedict XVI's arrival on these shores this coming September, as he'll provide us with a wealth of material and a ready-made source of fun. We've already had lots of fun with our tour names and Roger Davidson's tour posters, another of which we're giving you here.But at the same time, we fully accept the counter-argument – he's a homophobe, his Church shelters child abusers, he has actually said that condoms exacerbate the HIV problem in Africa, he meddles in our politics by condemning our equality laws. Those are the very reasons he won our 2009 Bad Faith Award. Why is our government embracing the man by offering him a state visit? Wouldn't we usually expect them to condemn someone with his views? Yet, to add insult, the fact that it's a state visit means we'll all be footing the bill, to the tune of £20 million. That's why the National Secular Society have set up a petition against the visit, arguing that if he wants to come, he can pay for it out of the Vatican's substantial coffers. (And we couldn't fail to spot EasyJet cleverly/cynically exploiting this by putting out a press release saying he could fly with them for free.)
So, we decided to put it to a poll.
What do you make of the Pope's forthcoming visit to the UK?To place your vote, use the poll in the top right of this page.
a) It's going to be great. Open-season on the Pope. A Pope-bashing extravaganza.
b) It's an utter disgrace. How dare our government invite this homophobic bigot to our country? And expect me to pay for it.
c) It's fine. With 4 million Catholics in the UK, it's only fair that they should have their head honcho over once-in-a-while
d) Whatever. It's only a man in a dress. Just don't ask me to foot the bill.
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7 comments:
Dismays me how much anti-religion sentiment exists in response to this tour. Being a Humanist myself, I believe there is no God, and I believe Man's actions/beliefs etc are all valid. Therefore is a large quantity(possibly the majority) of the people within our society see things in a particular light, there is probably a reasonable rationale behind it. Regardless of my own belief, I accept the Pope's statements are probably representative of an overall belief of the people he represents. And no, I do not believe The Church has 'brainwashed' us over the centuries - that would be to reject all forms of rationale that a Humanist/Scientist couldn't, in all good sense, propose.
I think the anti-religious attitude is exactly what you should expect from a people who are sick to the back teeth of hypocritical, bigoted fools who offer only bad advice and demonstrable lies for money.
If you are expecting reasonable rationale behind political and religous movements, then you do not know your history.
> I believe there is no God, and I believe Man's actions/beliefs etc are all valid.
No matter how hateful, oppressive, bigoted, inhumane, dangerous, and unsupported by evidence those beliefs are?
> Regardless of my own belief, I accept the Pope's statements are probably representative of an overall belief of the people he represents.
Quite likely. That's even more reason to reject the visit of this poisonous man, and fight those beliefs as *wrong*.
"hateful, oppressive, bigoted" - you should take a step down from your pedestal and look at your own language. Hypocrisy indeed. No matter which side of an argument you take conviction often leads to ugly arrogance whether religious or just anti-religious (as opposed to pro-humanist as many so called humanists seem to be).
My sister's bum and psyche should get a few votes...
Given the exponential growth of human population (another 1,000 million of us every 10 years), the dogmatic opposition of Ratzinger to all forms of contraception, and the false allegations he has made about condoms spreading AIDS, are sufficient grounds to treat him as persona non grata.
Add to that the fact that he has called homosexuality a major disorder which threatens humankind, and he was personally in charge of the committee which drew up Crimen Sollicitationis (the rule which swore to silence all victims and witnesses in the paedophile priest cases, on pain of excommunication). He is a menace to the whole planet and should be treated as such.
If Gordon Brown thinks that this stunt will boost his chances in an election, then he is a fool and deserves to lose it.
"I believe Man's actions/beliefs etc are all valid"
You would have been a lot of fun to hav around when Dachau and Buchenwald were opened to the view of the world...
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