Seething on the Third Rock

2006-11-02 Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Evangelical leader steps down after accusation he paid for sex with man

CATHERINE TSAI, The Associated Press, November 2, 2006

The Rev. Ted Haggard resigned as president of the influential National Association of Evangelicals on Thursday after being accused of having a sexual affair with a male prostitute.

Haggard also stepped down as head of his conservative 14,000-member New Life Church pending an investigation by a church panel. He could "not continue to minister under the cloud created by the accusations," he said.

"I am voluntarily stepping aside from leadership so that the overseer process can be allowed to proceed with integrity," Haggard said in a written statement. "I hope to be able to discuss this matter in more detail at a later date. In the interim, I will seek both spiritual advice and guidance."

Haggard, a married father of five, denied the allegations in an interview with KUSA-TV late Wednesday: "Never had a gay relationship with anybody, and I'm steady with my wife, I'm faithful to my wife."

Mike Jones, 49, of Denver told the AP that Haggard paid him to have sex nearly every month over three years. His allegations were first aired on KHOW-AM radio in Denver.

Jones said he had advertised himself as an escort on the Internet and that a man who called himself Art contacted him. Jones said he later saw the man on television identified as Haggard.

He said he last had sex with Haggard in August. He said he did not warn him before making his allegations public this week.

Jones said he has voice mails from Haggard as well as an envelope he said Haggard used to mail him cash. He declined to make any of it available to the AP.

"There's some stuff on there (the voice mails) that's pretty damning," he said.

Carolyn Haggard, spokeswoman for the New Life Church, said a four-member church panel will investigate the allegations. She did not identify the board members.

"This is really routine when any sort of situation like this arises, so we're prepared," she said. "The church is going to continue to serve and be welcoming to our community. That's a priority."

2006-04-21 You really have to love the Vatican...

It's official!  The institution that brought us pedophilia, obstruction of justice, false prophecies, pseudo-science and religious intolerance (a.k.a. the Vatican) has shifted--only slightly.  Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, (no, not the cocktail the cardinal), one of the church's most distinguished officials and a first runner-up in the last Mr. Pope of the Universe Contest has publicly backed the use of condoms among married couples to prevent Aids transmission as "a lesser evil".  [1]  Well isn't that somethin'?  The Vatican's official position is that condoms should never be used, even to stop the spread of Aids from one married partner to another.   Needless to say, the rest of you having extra-marital unions can still just die.  You really have to love these guys--well not as much as they love your children.

Above: Cardinal Carlo "Maria" Martini

2005-12-25 "The War on Christmas" and Other Fabrications of the Loony "Christian" Right

With Christmas soon to be over and with throngs of shoppers soon to be trampling themselves once again on their way into and out of Wal-Mart, it is time to take stock of the “War-on-Christmas”, the most recent fabrication of the loony “Christian” right. Surfing the web I was able to cull a few golden nuggets for your enjoyment. You don’t have to look very hard to find the not so subtle patina of anti-Semitism underlying the debate.

Any serious research on the mythology of the “War on Christmas” must begin with the great philanthropist of the Third Reich, Henry Ford (1863-1947). When he was not making cars (and donating the proceeds to Hitler), Mr. Ford would write in his newspaper the Dearborn Independent and his 4-volume book set The International Jew that:

"Instead of looking forward to Christmas, it is a spirit of inquiry as to how far we can go at Christmas. We are asking whether we dare, as Christians in a Christian land, whisper the Name that gives Christmas its meaning.” “Last Christmas most people had a hard time finding Christmas cards that indicated in any way that Christmas commemorated Someone’s Birth... Now, all this begins with the designers of the cards.”

“And so when they said, ‘Reading the Bible is sheer proselytizing; it isn’t fair,’ the non-Jew, who wanted to prove that he is fair and unprejudiced above all things else (a weakness the Jews know how to manipulate), said, ‘Well, then, out goes the Bible!’ And it went out. Very well! What next? ‘You must abolish Christmas, too.’”

More recently, John Gibson, host of “The Big Story with John Gibson” on Fox “News” offered in his book The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought that:

“The wagers of this war on Christmas are a cabal of secularists, so-called humanists, trial lawyers, cultural relativists and liberal, guilt-wracked Christians — not just Jewish people.”

Burt Prelutsky, columnist for the L.A. Times and a movie critic for Los Angeles magazine explains in his article The Jewish Grinch who stole Christmas on Townhall.com that [bizarrely] he blames his fellow Jews:

“When it comes to pushing the multicultural, anti-Christian, agenda, you find Jewish judges, Jewish journalists, and the ACLU, at the forefront.”

Recently, in an on-air exchange with a Jewish caller on the subject, Bill O’Reilly, that fountain of free-thinking wisdom on Fox “News” said:

All right. Well, what I'm tellin' you, [caller], is I think you're takin' it too seriously. You have a predominantly Christian nation. You have a federal holiday based on the philosopher Jesus. And you don't wanna hear about it? Come on, [caller] -- if you are really offended, you gotta go to Israel then. I mean because we live in a country founded on Judeo -- and that's your guys' -- Christian, that's my guys' philosophy. But overwhelmingly, America is Christian. And the holiday is a federal holiday honoring the philosopher Jesus. So, you don't wanna hear about it? Impossible.

And that is an affront to the majority. You know, the majority can be insulted, too. And that's what this anti-Christmas thing is all about.

For those of us who only watch Fox "News" for amusement, it's all really enough to make you wonder if there will be democracy in Iraq before there is theocracy in America.  For supporters of our "born again" President, religious tolerance appears to be constituted more of platitudes to be preached abroad rather than values to be practiced at home.  Clearly companies and institutions are attempting to make Christmastime a more inclusive rather than exclusive holiday.  But the idea of the disassociation of Christmas and the birth of Christ is no more real today than it was when Henry Ford first started ranting nearly a century ago.  Conversely, its utility as a tool to stoke sectarian intolerance is as great as ever.

2005-11-23 The Vatican, Again

Will they ever stop?  The Roman Catholic citadel of hypocrisy, hate and homophobia (otherwise known as the Vatican) has leaked a new church document saying that it "cannot admit to the seminary and the sacred orders those who practice homosexuality, present deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or support so-called gay culture."   In this attempt to appear to be doing something constructive about the pandemic of child molestation in the Catholic Church, the Vaticans says that even men with "transitory" homosexual tendencies must overcome their urges (whatever that means) for at least three years before entering the clergy.

At risk of being repetitive, I feel it necessary to once again restate the real issue.  Clearly there are homosexuals in the priest hood.  By some estimates between 25 to 50% of priests are gay.  But of course only a small percentage of homosexuals are pedophiles.  Clearly there are pedophiles in the priesthood.  But even so, well defined "open door" policies requiring all church members to proactively report all suspicious behavior to the appropriate legal authorities would have very quickly exposed and removed these threats to the welfare of children.

The real underlying cause of the current spate of sex scandals in the Church that this latest diversionary media play clearly fails to address is the top-down conspiracy orchestrated by the Vatican and the Catholic hierarchy to systematically conceal evidence of sexual impropriety and to obstruct the legal processes designed to root them out.  This lastest "Instruction" on the part of the Vatican will not identify any of the existing pedophiles still preying on children in the church.  Neither does it show any intent to actually cooperate fully with the authorities in investigating past offenses and bringing the perpetrators (and co-conspirators) to justice. 

Note-1: On December 6th, 2002, Cardinal Bernard F. Law, the Archbishop Emeritus of Boston, left for the Vatican, on the same day that he reportedly was ordered to appear before a grand jury investigating sex abuse allegations. [1]

Note-2: After the death and funeral of PJ2, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (then the Dean of the College of Cardinals and now Pope Benedict XVI), gave Cardinal Law the honor of celebrating one of nine official Vatican masses during the nine official days of mourning. [2]

I think what must bother the Church the most is that in contrast to the tyrannical rantings of PJ2 and now Raving Ratzinger, the hypocrisy of the Church is now revealed in stark relief as a leader in "evil doing", raping and molesting little children.  The public can now see the Church hierarchy as a clique of corrupt officials more concerned with the trappings of power and prestige than the fate of the weakest amongst us (who they were charged to protect).  The dramatic decline in seminarians and congregations is not because Catholics are afraid that there might be homosexuals in the priesthood.  On the contrary, the reason that Catholics everywhere have lost faith in their Church is because they don't feel they can trust the institution and the hierarchy as a whole to do the right things.  Today's announcement will do nothing to stem that decline.  Unfortunately, the Vatican is now taking a page from the Republican playbook of politcal subterfuge:

For cheap political gain
     or when all else fails,
          bash fags.

2005-11-15 Evolution in the bible, says Vatican

s I am pretty unrelenting in my attacks on the Vatican and the Catholic Church, I decided to share with you a bit of good news from the "Dark Side".  But you know it is really a sad day when even the Vatican appears more rational than (mostly Republican) pseudo-Christian hate mongers.

-----------------------------------------------

Evolution in the Bible Vatican Says

By Martin Penner, 07-11-2005, The Australian [1]

The Vatican has issued a stout defence of Charles Darwin, voicing strong criticism of Christian fundamentalists who reject his theory of evolution and interpret the biblical account of creation literally. Cardinal Paul Poupard, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said the Genesis description of how God created the universe and Darwin's theory of evolution were "perfectly compatible" if the Bible were read correctly. His statement was a clear attack on creationist campaigners in the US, who see evolution and the Genesis account as mutually exclusive.  More...

2005-09-23 Popes and Pedophiles

Above: Raving Ratzinger says, "Gay=Pedophile!"

Well it's all but official, the sclerotic dinosaur of doctrine, "Raving Ratzinger" (Pope Benedict) desperate to appear to be doing something about the never ending sexual abuse controversies involving Catholic priests, has decided to bar new homosexual priests, even those who are celibate.  I suppose Ratzinger has decided that even having "gay thoughts" is tantamount to being a pedophile.  I am sure the American Psychiatric Association and the Justice Department would be interested in his findings.

I was prepared to accept Ratzinger's previous observations that there is no greater incidence of pedophilia in the priesthood than in society as a whole. [1]  But that sadly is not the point.  The real issue is that the Catholic Church under the direction of the Vatican orchestrated a systematic worldwide cover-up of the sexual abuse of thousands of children for decades and shuffled priests from parish to parish in the process.  That is called a conspiracy.  And if there were any justice in the world, several Catholic Cardinals including the former Archbishop of Boston, Bernard Law, would be facing international arrest warrants right now.  Instead, the former Pope (PJII) appointed Law as the Arch-priest of St. Mary's Basilica in Vatican City [2].  Out of sight, out of mind. How convenient.

Note-1: A report commissioned by the Church found that more than 4,000 US Roman Catholic priests had faced sexual abuse allegations in the last 50 years, in cases involving more than 10,000 children - mostly boys. [3]

Note-2: On December 6th, 2002, Cardinal Bernard F. Law, the Archbishop Emeritus of Boston, left for the Vatican, on the same day that he reportedly was ordered to appear before a grand jury investigating sex abuse allegations. On December 13th, he was forced to resign due to his failure to disclose priest-pedophilia in the archdiocese. [4]  As a "Prince of the Church", on April 18th, Cardinal Law joined 117 other cardinals to vote for the next pope (Raving Ratzinger) in the Conclave of Cardinals. [5]

"So what should the Catholic Church do Fred?"

Great question.  I'm glad you asked.  First Ratzinger should apologize to all the men and women (including nuns) who were sexually abused by priests.  Second, the Church must cooperate fully with law enforcement officials worldwide to identify not only the perpetrators of these heinous crimes but also all of those who aided and abetted the conspiracy to protect them.  Finally, the Church must reverse the recent and arbitrary edict to celibacy of Pope Gregory VII (AD 1020-1085) and allow priests to marry.  And since it is widely believed that anywhere from 25 to 50% of existing priests are in fact homosexual [6], this would necessarily imply accepting the existence of homosexuals already in the Church and in the broader society as whole.  The only alternative is more abuse, cover-ups and the continuing decline in the number of seminarians.

Let's read from the Bible shall we?

First Timothy, Chapter 4

1. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2. Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
3. Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
4. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
5. For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

(See also: My tribute to PJII on the BBC News.)

2005-08-23 Pat Robertson and Hugo Chavez

US religious broadcaster Pat Robertson has called for the US to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Mr Robertson caused controversy with the comments on his TV show, describing Mr Chavez as "a terrific danger".

Venezuela's vice president accused Robertson of making "terrorist" remarks and said the US response would put its anti-terror policy to the test.

The US State Department said the comments were "inappropriate" and did not reflect the policy of the US.  More...

2005-07-05 United Church of Christ Approves Same-Sex Marriage!

The UCC, a community of Christians with roots deep in the soil of societal change, took another giant leap on Monday.

General Synod 25 overwhelmingly passed a resolution in support of equal marriage rights for all people, regardless of gender. It marks the first time that one of the nation’s mainline churches has expressed support of marriages for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons.  More...

A Missed Opportunity

Well it's official.  The secret society of celibate, holier than thou drag queens (AKA the conclave of Cardinals) have selected yet another "tyrant of all things ecclesiastical" as Pope.  German cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (AKA Benedict XVI), at 78 is the oldest Pope elected since since Clement XII, who was also 78 when he became pope in 1730.  Who needs reform and modernity?  Not the Catholic Church.  Not with 24x7 worldwide coverage of all things Vatican and seemingly endless soliloquies on the piety, virtue and mystery of the pontificate drowning out the protests of abused children, women and homosexuals.

Ratzinger, John Paul's dogmatic, sclerotic dinosaur of doctrine strongly opposed the "liberation theology" movement in Latin America, has politically attacked homosexuality and gay marriage and ruthlessly suppressed Asian priests who see non-Christian religions as part of God's plan for humanity.  He has publically called other Christian churches "deficient"--shocking Anglicans, Lutherans and other Protestants. (1)

Above: Raving Ratzinger

"In the Church, priests also are sinners. But I am personally convinced that the constant presence in the press of the sins of Catholic priests, especially in the United States, is a planned campaign, as the percentage of these offenses among priests is not higher than in other categories, and perhaps it is even lower." Cardinal Ratzinger Sees a Media Campaign Against Church, Zenit.org, December 3, 2002.

The Vatican would have us to believe that the crisis of the church arises from a crisis of faith due to the moral relativism of the modern world.  On the contrary, the crisis of the Catholic laity arises from the threats posed to them by a retrograde, tyrannical and hypocritical institution that has abused their trust and worships it's own infallibility even as it unleashes and covers up diabolical evil.  The Vatican has become an unchristian bastion of spiritual self-destruction with its head buried in theological denial.

The Evangelical Effect

Forum: The Evangelical Effect.

The Bush presidency is not conservative. It is populist and radical, says Jeffrey Hart, its policies deformed by the influence of Christian extremism. More...