Because Satan can only be so many places at once, you see.
“The devil tempts everyone — people in politics, in economics, in sport. And naturally, he tempts, above all, the religious leaders, so you shouldn’t be surprised if the devil tempts those in the Vatican. That’s his job.”
Father Gabriele Amorth isn’t speaking metaphorically when he says that. The 85-year-old priest means people can be tempted and literally possessed by Satan.
(…)
And as the chief exorcist of the Roman Catholic Church, it’s his job to expel the devil when someone is possessed. Amorth, the founder of the International Association of Exorcists, has performed more than 70,000 exorcisms in his career, he estimates.
But there is a difference between possession — where the devil takes hold of someone’s body and actions — and temptation, where Satan lures a person into doing evil, he said.
As a child abuse scandal sweeps across Europe, with accusations being made against priests in Ireland, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, Amorth said the pedophiles are tempted, not possessed.
He has never done an exorcism on a child molester, he said.
“I have carried out exorcisms on some priests who had been molested by the devil,” he said, without going into details.
“But cases of pedophilia exorcised, no. … Pedophiles are not possessed by the devil, they are tempted by the devil,” he said.
Setting aside the utterly insane idea that people’s bodies are possessed or inhabited by invisible evil spirits for just a moment…
So, this exorcist (oh, to be paid throughout life for doing nothing) has done his monkey business on priests who have been “molested by the devil”?
I wasn’t aware the devil was into guys.
Any-hoo, I think it’s great that the Roman Catholic Church continues to talk about these things, because they just keep saying crazier and crazier things! And none of it is moving an inch toward exculpating the thugs! As far as I can see, it’s having the opposite effect, and each day and each new grotesque revelation are doing their part to continue chipping away at the moral authority of the Catholic Church, and the faster that happens, the better off the world will be.
A United Nations Aids [sic] agency complains that homosexuals, drug users and prostitute [sic] don’t seek help because of laws that criminalize their practices.
Michel Sidibe of UNAIDS is quoted as saying it is unacceptable that 85 countries still make homosexual conduct illegal, but Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH), does not accept that thinking.
“They’ve got everything backwards,” he contends. “Rather than have a campaign – for example an anti-sodomy campaign, an anti-prostitution campaign, an anti-drug abuse campaign that targets the bad behaviors themselves – instead they target countries that are trying to implement conservative policies that target homosexuality.”
In compatibility with his logic, Sidibe suggests that laws against the immoral behavior be changed.
“Mr. Sidibe is just completely confused,” LaBarbera notes. “He says that in states where there are not repressive laws, HIV is contained. Then he goes on to express shock that more than 50 percent of infections in the United States are among homosexuals. So he contradicts himself.”
Peter: stick to leather porn. The grown-ups who are experts on AIDS prevention will handle the grown-up issue of AIDS prevention.
Today, “60 leaders of religious orders representing 59,000 Catholic nuns” sent a letter to federal lawmakers urging them to pass the Senate health care legislation. They decried the “false” information floating around about abortion provisions and said that the bill’s “historic new investments” for pregnant women are the “REAL pro-life stance.” The nuns’ letter was a significant and unusual break with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which continues to denounce the legislation. This afternoon, Stupak dismissed the nuns, saying that he listens to only male religious figures and far-right religious organizations:
Congressman Bart Stupak, D-Mich, responded sharply to White House officials touting a letter representing 59,000 nuns that was sent to lawmakers urging them to pass the health care bill.
The conservative Democrat dismissed the action by the White House saying, “When I’m drafting right to life language, I don’t call up the nuns.” He says he instead confers with other groups including “leading bishops, Focus on the Family, and The National Right to Life Committee.”
That a member of the Democratic Party is listening to groups like Focus on the Family or National Right to Life is pathetic. It would be one thing if he were a Republican, because you could at least say “Well, in that echo chamber, there’s probably not anyone smart enough to break through the paranoid wingnut version of reality and lead the Congressman along to smarter, more honest people.” But as a Democrat, Stupak has no excuse.
But as was pointed out when Bart Stupak became a household name among misogynists and those of us who fight against them, no one has ever accused Bart Stupak of being intelligent, and as long as he keeps listening to the windsocks at Focus, that accusation will likely continue to steer clear of him.
UPDATE: Here’s a little perspective from Wonkette’’s “Jim Newell” character, on the split between Stupak, Focus on the Family and the obnoxious Catholic bishops holding up healthcare reform, and the 59,000 nuns who support it:
Don’t know about you people, but we trust America’s old virgin nuns much more than we do the Catholic Bishops, who just run an ancient kiddie-rape cult, since they can’t have sex with the virgin nuns and are also pedophiles.
I know that’s right.
It’s funny how the NUNS aren’t all hot and bothered about the abortion provisions in healthcare reform (that don’t even exist unless you’re a liar, stupid, or on hallucinogens) the same way the bishops are, isn’t it? (No. It’s because the nuns are women and women don’t tend to support misogyny the same way men do. Crazy, I know!)
It apparently extends all the way up to Pope Hitlerpants himself.
As Joe Sudbay said when he posted this, I’m sure Bill Donohue will be wetting his garanimals in Jon Stewart’s general direction before the evening, if he isn’t already.
More on the disgusting state of the Catholic Church directly below.
On a personal note, sorry blogging is light right now! Things are a bit crazy, but I promise I’ll catch up soon!
As hundreds of new allegations of sexual abuse surface in the German church alone, a top Vatican official acknowledged Tuesday that, with only 10 people handling such cases, his office might not be adequate for the task. The ratio of 10 people handling 300 cases a year did not go over well in some quarters. “It seems like an extraordinarily paltry effort, given the scope of the crisis,” said David Clohessy, the national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.
It is amazing that the Catholic Church had the manpower and funds to vehemently oppose marriage equality in Maine and other places, yet they only have 10 people to investigate the avalanche of sexual abuse charges. This is all you need to know about the sexual morality and priorities of this Pope. It is absolutely insulting and disgraceful for the Vatican to throw money at marriage referendums, while underfunding child abuse investigations. Shame on the Pope.
The head of Ireland’s Catholics has apologised for his role in mishandling the case of a serial child abuser.
As a priest in 1975 Cardinal Sean Brady was at meetings where children signed vows of silence over complaints against paedophile priest Fr Brendan Smyth.
He said he wanted to apologise to “all those who feel I have let them down”.
Meanwhile, Pope Benedict XVI has announced that on Friday he will sign his long awaited pastoral letter dealing with paedophilia in Ireland.
He said in recent months the church in Ireland had been “rocked by the crisis of abuse of minors” and hoped his letter would “help repentance, healing and renewal”.
And these people are going to preach to me about sexual morality? Please.
Hiram Monserrate, who was expelled from the State Senate after being convicted of assaulting his girlfriend, was defeated on Tuesday by José R. Peralta in a special election in Queens for Mr. Monserrate’s former seat.
Peralta won with 66 percent of the vote and Monserrate got 27 percent. The Republican candidate, Robert Beltrani came in third with 7 percent.
It was wonderful to see the abusive, anti-gay bigot go down in flames. Knowing that his lack of morality and character were a major liability, Monserrate tried to make this race about marriage equality. The girlfriend beater laughably positioned himself as a defender of the family and insulted LGBT people.
Empire State Pride Agenda, Queer Rising, Marriage Equality New York, the Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City and Fight Back New York all played roles in Peralta’s victory.
Indicative of Monserrate character, the Times reports that the scoundrel stopped at a senior citizens’ center in Corona that served as a polling site.
Apparently ignoring election rules that prohibit candidates from campaigning within 100 feet of polling stations, he walked in, shook hands with the men, hugged the women and danced salsa with students taking a class until the center’s director persuaded him to leave.
It is good to see this self-absorbed, arrogant, hypocrite get ousted from politics. He can now pack up his disgraceful anti-gay circus and go home.
When the opposition polls veterans, they tend to rush for the nearest nursing home, since they know that they have no prayer of making a case against openly gay troops when they ask the actual men and women who are fighting for our country right now. It shows an alarming lack of disrespect for their sacrifices when Elaine Donnelly and her viper-tongued brethren do this, but she’s not a moral person, so we shouldn’t be surprised.
A new poll, of veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, tells a more accurate, a more current story:
As the Pentagon prepares to survey soldiers about President Obama’s decision to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, a new poll of military personnel who served in the Afghanistan or Iraq wars has finds that sexual orientation is “not a burning issue that overwhelms veterans’ lives.”
The new poll, commissioned by The Vet Voice Foundation and conducted jointly by Republican and Democratic pollsters, finds that most veterans are “comfortable around gay and lesbian people, believe that being gay or lesbian has no bearing on a service member’s ability to perform their duties, and would find it acceptable if gay and lesbian people were allowed to serve openly in the military.” Fifty-eight percent of veterans said they served alongside gays or lesbians, and only 22 percent thought they had not:
– 60% of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans believe that being gay or lesbian “has no bearing on a service member’s ability to perform their duties.” Only 29% disagree.
– 73% of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans say it is “personally acceptable to them if gay and lesbian people were allowed to serve openly in the military.” Only a quarter (25%) would find it unacceptable.
– 73% Iraq and Afghanistan veterans say “they are personally comfortable in the presence of gays and lesbians.” Only a quarter (23%) is uncomfortable, and hardly anyone is very uncomfortable (only 7%).
Much as it might chap Elaine Donnelly’s behind, those numbers aren’t going back their way either. There’s simply too much education out there nowadays, and the great majority of younger people in this nation know that the Religious Right’s anti-gay fearmongering has been simply much ado about nothing.
By the way, the poll sample included more than twice as many self-identified Republicans as it did Democrats.
Last week, the Texas Board of Education voted 10-5, along party lines, to replace history textbooks with right wing political propaganda. The vote followed a separate, contentious scrum over whether creationism should be taught in science courses.
Would it not have been easier to have simply jettisoned all textbooks and replaced them with episodes of Glenn Beck and Pat Robertson’s 700 Club on a continuous loop during school hours?
In defending his bid to jam creationism into the school science curriculum and rewrite history, ultra-conservative board member, Dr. Don McLeroy, said, “Somebody’s gotta stand up to experts.”
One wonders if he has the same negative view on experts when it comes to his own dental profession? Would McLeroy trust his own expertise over a guy off the street that fancied himself a dentist because he owned a pair of rusty pliers?
Of course, many fundamentalists have long disdained experts, such as historians, because they have a tendency to reveal men like McLeroy to be agenda-driven amateurs. The extremism of the Texas School Board is evident by the guidelines they voted for.
For example, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, the Eagle Forum’s Phyllis Schlafly and the National Rifle Association have replaced Thomas Jefferson. This is in a despicable effort to marginalize the man who coined the phrase, “separation of church and state”, while elevating America as a right wing “Christian Nation.” (Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein were also eliminated to make room for these conservatives)
Newt Gingrich’s flash-in-the-pan Contract with America and Rev. Jerry Falwell’s short-lived Moral Majority are elevated as historically important, while the supposed religious roots of the American Revolution will be now be studied.
“I reject the notion by the left of a constitutional separation of church and state,” David Bradley, a conservative school board member from Beaumont, told The New York Times.
Social conservatives have created an entire industry to twist our nation’s history. But, if the founders were fundamentalists who intended America to be a Christian version of Iran, than why do these folks have to work so hard to prove their point?
It seems to me that our founders were quite eloquent and certainly able to convey their desire to be a fundamentalist nation, if that is what they had intended. But, our country is not called “God Land.” Jesus’ name is not in the United States Constitution.
Case closed.
These simple facts are clearly eating up these zealots inside and driving them to distraction. They just do not want to accept that their totalitarian and exclusionary vision of America is a radical and dangerous departure from the ideas of religious freedom embraced by our Founding Fathers.
These bitter fundamentalists are left cobbling together arcane quotes – often out of context – that make a circumstantial case that some of our nation’s founders were religious.
So what?
There are millions of Americans who go to church each week, but they don’t want to live in an oppressive theocracy that brainwashes students and undermines democracy. At heart, the conservative members of the board believe they are superior and anyone who does not imbibe on their delusion can be minimized or erased from the historical record.
Furthermore, the new textbook “standards” are not about learning, but a laundry list of southern fundamentalist cultural grievances. For instance, the civil rights movement is downgraded and the peaceful Martin Luther King Jr. will now be “balanced” by lessons on the Black Panthers.
Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society will be degraded for “the unintended consequences” such as affirmative action. The Board rejected attempts to increase the number of Latino figures in history lessons and demands that Republicans get more credit for voting in favor of civil rights legislation. So, even as they demean minorities, the Board is conservatively correct enough to portray social conservatives as supporters of the Civil Rights movement. Nice touch.
There was also approval for an amendment highlighting that Italians and Germans, not just Japanese, were placed in US camps during World War II, to dispute the idea that imprisoning the Japanese was motivated by racism.
The bloc of seven fundamentalists on the Texas Board of Education doesn’t really care about public education. In fact, several members either home school their children or send them to private schools. Their real goal is to infiltrate the system to remake it in their image. There are three things that I hope will come from this controversy:
1) Enough people come forward during the 30 day comment period to reverse the vote.
2) Mainstream textbook makers will take a moral stand and refuse to print propaganda
3) If the standards remain, schools that are able should switch to computer software for lessons, so they are not saddled with Bible-based “history” books for a decade
Is there any doubt that brutally unflattering chapters about these zealous hijackers of history will be written into future social studies textbooks?
Because of the amazing Constance McMillen, Miss’sippi’s been all over the news lately, showing everybody their commitment to, as Wanda Sykes said, always “be on the forefront of the wrong side of history.” Well, one of Miss’sippi’s finest brains apparently got a stick in his craw about all the mean lie’bruls making fun of them, and wrote atheist science blogger P.Z. Myers a letter. I think you’ll agree it’s a true exposition of genius:
Mr. Myers:
I live in north Mississippi and the way that you and other liberals criticize small town America is deplorable. You know nothing of this town nor my state. Of course I am proud of the people in my state for standing up for what is right.
You call it “human rights” for a man to dress like a woman and act silly and for a woman to dress like a man and act like she has a pecker when she does not. Most nomral people call it sick and realize it is sin. Of course the days of 1967 may have caused permanent brain damage that the next generation inherited. This explans most liberal policies, or anti-establishment policies I call it.
Explanation for liberalism = men “acting silly” and dressing like women and women “acting like they have peckers.” Awesome. And 1967 was bad. Loving v. Virginia and whatnot. I want more of this letter:
The plain fact is this: Why can liberals not accept that a man does not wear a dress and that a woman does not wear a tuxedo and ask another woman to prom, or other engagement? Can you ot see what is wrong with that picture? Your claim to fame is that you use reason. What reason? Your reason? What about the truth? The truth and reality prevails over your “reason” Mr. Myers.
And in my version of reality, evurbody wars what thur s’posta war!
Satan is on a role in America and his minions are affecting every core element of society.
Yes, I believe he’s playing the role of Elizabeth Hasselbeck, last time I checked. Type-casting. What’s a dark lord gotta do to be a leading lady in this town?
There are those of us who have sworn an oath to destroy evil in this world and to slay Satan and his ideals which includes witchcraft, idolatry, paganism, homosexuality, etc.
Wolverines!
I’d like to take a moment to point out that that last sentence definitely does not bring to mind Magic: The Gathering or LARPing, in any way, shape or form. Absolutely not.
Homoseuality was wrong 6000 years ago after Adam sinned. It was wrong 3500 years ago when God wiped Sodom and Gomorrah from the face of the Earth for their homosexual satanic lusts.
Wait. What kind of wingnut pop-up Bible is Bubba reading, because MY fourteen Bibles seem to have about fifteen verses a-piece which all explain that the sin of Sodom was inhospitality and greed? You actually have to actively ignore most of the verses in the Bible that talk about Sodom to pretend it was about gay people. (Bible lesson from an atheist #3 if you’re counting)
The Bible predicted a day when men would see evil as good and good as evil. That day has come and those who have fulfilled this evil will be punished along with the demons who influenced these actions.
Team Edward? Team Jacob? He’s talking to both of y’all, and he’s not happy.
You, sir know nothing of the values of my culture, my heritage.
Time out! In case any of you reading are not Southern, I am, so allow me to explain that when a Southerner says “heritage,” they tend to be talking about “the good ole’ days when the nigras knew their place.” In case you didn’t know.
If you like your sodomy so much, then please set up a seperate state for it so that the sodomites can go there to be destroyed rather than bring destruction on the rest of us who do not tolerate it.
What, you mean like the blue states which subsidize Miss’sippi’s wingnut welfare existence with their abundant tax dollars? The ones where the kids are smarter and the married couples divorce less and the abortion and teen pregnancy rates are lower, and the violent crime rates are…well, you get the idea.
Oh yeah. You already have. California is a breeding ground for Satanic forces. Sodomy, prositution, gayism, witchcraft, paganism, liberalism, socialism, communism, etc all prevails there
I hope you get saved, becuase you have caused many people to go astray and turn evil. Punishment for this will not be a light entence. Being evil yourself is bad enough, but when you cause young minds to stray from God, you received 100 fold the punishment due to you.
Better luck next time. Though. Come visit us in small town Mississippi. You might learn something – like what it means to be normal.
Sincerely,
Your most famous non-admirer
I skipped so many lines, so you need to go read the whole thing. But wait, “most famous”? P.Z. says his name was “rob1,” but there are only three famous people I can think of who live in North Mississippi. (There could be more, but they’re not coming to mind.) Jerry Lee Lewis. Morgan Freeman. John Grisham. I’m having a hard time believing any of them could be “rob1,” so I’m guessing this fool is more of a “local celebrity,” a la employee of the month at the Steak ‘n’ Shake.
Oh, and you really should read P.Z.’s response to Bubba McGoo. He’s trying to be nicer these days, and I think he made a valiant effort. So click the clicky!
And Constance, I know Wanda Sykes laughed a little bit when you said you were going to move to Tennessee after college, but you’re right — once you cross that border, it’s like you’ve entered a whole new level of civilization. (As long as you aim for the big city on the other side of that border. The “Memphis” one. If you aim too far to the right, you end up in a place called Finger, which is, um, not really an improvement. No offense to any dear friends of mine who happen to have been raised in Fain-ger.)
Anyway, I’m going to go and act silly and show some ladies how to pretend they have peckers now.
I’ve found in monitoring radical anti-gay Christian extremists that they’re usually not normal, rational people who happen to dislike gay people. Usually, they’re detached from reality on several fronts. Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is apparently no exception. Cuccinelli, you’ll remember, decided to use his status as AG to direct Virginia’s colleges and universities to remove sexual orientation from their non-discrimination policies. Unfortunately for him, Virginia happens to be home to Smart Kid Schools, and smart kids and Christian fundamentalist windsockery go together like oil and water, and his efforts have been rebuffed so far.
He’s also embarrassing himself with his efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, which is the only primary healthcare source for many women.
But also? Cuccinelli seems to be a a hardcore birther, having been caught on tape having the following conversation:
Q What can we do about Obama and the birth certificate thing?
Cooch: It will get tested in my view when someone… when he signs a law, and someone is convicted of violating it and one of their defenses will be it is not a law because someone qualified to be President didn’t sign it.
Q: Is that something you can do as Attorney General? Can you do that or something?
Cooch: Well only if there is a conflict where we are suing the federal government for a law they’ve passed. So it’s possible.
Q: Because we are talking about the possibility that he was not born in America.
Cooch: Right. But at the same time under Rule 11, Federal Rule 11, we gotta have proof of it.
Q: How can we get proof?
Cooch: Well… that’s a good question. Not one I’ve thought a lot about because it hasn’t been part of my campaign. Someone is going to have to come forward with nailed down testimony that he was born in place B, wherever that is. You know, the speculation is Kenya. And that doesn’t seem beyond the realm of possibility.
Right Wing Watch has the video if you want to hear the Cooch for yourself.
This of course also reveals that Cuccinelli probably has race issues, since the birf certifkit thing has been so thoroughly debunked that only backwards knuckle dragging white people with inferiority complexes in the face of black men who are smarter than them still cling to the birther fantasies, the way they cling to guns and religion. (Hee hee.)
Okay, so let’s count. So far, Cuccinelli has
1. Major inferiority and fear issues where gays are concerned.
2. Major inferiority and fear issues where women are concerned.
3. Major inferiority and fear issues where Barack Obamas are concerned, going so far as to cling to fantasies that he is ineligible for the office of the presidency.
4. Probable Fear of a Black Planet.
Isn’t that enough? Isn’t that enough wingnut fear, enough wingnut neurosis, enough mental illness for one far right wingnut official?
In an overlooked recording from the campaign trail, candidate Cuccinelli told a crowd that he was considering not registering his son for a Social Security number because “it is being used to track you.” He also claimed that many others are not registering for Social Security numbers for the same reason.
Direct quote:
We’re gonna have our 7th child on Monday, if he’s not born before. And, for the very concerns you state, we’re actually considering – as I’m sure many of you here didn’t get a Social Security number when you were born, they do it now – we’re considering not doing that. And a lot of people are considering that now, because it is being used to track you.
Video:
Good lord!
Apparently, like Victoria Jackson, Ken Cuccinelli would be a lot safer if he wore a helmet. I’m worried he might hurt himself otherwise.
Anyway, here’s some music, just because it’s still one of the best responses to people like Ken Cuccinelli I’ve ever heard, and also because if Ken stumbles across this post, it might make him pee:
UPDATE: Another quick link for thee: Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog makes a solid case that Cuccinelli is not only a Birther, but also a Tenther (another fringe whackjob movement) and a liar (self-explanatory).
Hiram Monserrate, 
