Glad I’m Out Of The Club Already…
…because, if I wasn’t before, I most certainly would be getting out once I found out about this:
|
The Audacity of Poping, by Christopher Buckley Brace yourselves for a tsunami of punditry this weekend, when the much-married Newt Gingrich is received into the Catholic Church. [snip] He and Mother Church—from whose tender embrace I myself have regrettably lapsed—will both be made out to be appalling hypocrites. Who among us should throw stones? But Mr. Gingrich’s marital history is a matter of public record, and it is not tidy. He first married at age 19, to his 26-year-old former high-school geometry teacher and then, so the story goes, presented her with divorce terms after she was wheeled out of cancer surgery. Mrs. Gingrich #2 was dumped after her husband had carried on an extramarital affair with a fetching, blond congressional staffer named Callista Bisek, who went on to become the present Mrs. Gingrich #3. This Family Values paradigm was complicated by the fact that whilst Mr. Gingrich was filibustering Ms. Bisek over the Speaker’s desk, he was simultaneously leading the impeachment charge against a naughty president of the United States. [snip] As for Mother Church, she’ll come in for drubbing this weekend for seeming two-faced about the sanctity of marriage. As you know, divorce is still not allowed in the Catholic Church. But here insert a large “however”—she is liberal in the granting of annulments. Mrs. Gingrich #2 publicly ventilated her displeasure back in 2000 after she received a letter from the Archdiocese of Atlanta informing her that her marriage was being annulled—that is, rendered ex post facto invalid—on the grounds of “ligamen.” She had been married previously, so in the eyes of the church her marriage to Mr. Gingrich simply did not take place. [snip] The stated reason for it is that he wishes to worship alongside his wife, who is described on her husband’s Web site as “a devoted Catholic.” To the extent her devotedness is assessed alongside her early relationship with the then-married Mr. Gingrich, it should be borne in mind that to be “devoted” is not the same as being “perfect”: She is “a member of the choir of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.” She has sung for a pope. And, to judge from her photos of a Barry Manilow concert in Las Vegas—you can view the slideshow for yourself—is a capable amateur photographer. [snip] |
This kind of stuff is quite difficult for me to deal with - the rank hypocrisy of the catholic church in this case is amazing to me, and the rank hypocrisy of its’ followers in staying with the church after it does things like this (among so many other recent examples), makes it somewhat difficult for me to deal with them in a civilized manner. This is also particularly difficult for me to deal with because the vast majority of those catholics that I personally interact with happen to be my relatives. To add another log to the fire here, my soon-to-be-married brother (with a Ph.D in bioengineering no less) has recently informed me that he does not think I (or anyone else who does not believe in some form of Invisible Sky Fairy) can have any morals because of our lack of faith (I believe the exact quote was “If you don’t believe in God, you can’t be a moral person”*).
If you can stomach it, go here and take a look at some other recent notables who decided to willfully ignore reason and reality in favor of the catholic flavor of superstitious nonsense.
Share and Enjoy!
* - he is also firmly convinced that Hitler was an atheist. Almost as firmly convinced as I was that Hitler was a christian - specifically a catholic - until I did this bit of research. Now I’m not so sure he was truly a catholic (or a christian), but I’m even more convinced that he was not an atheist.
Editors’ Note: this entry has been cross-posted at the Funny Farm]
March 30th, 2009 at 6:15 am
Glad I’m Out Of The Club Already……
Humpday, 4 Goodenuf 2009 …because, if I wasn’t before, I most certainly would be getting out once I found out about this: The Audacity of Poping, by Christopher Buckley Brace yourselves for a tsunami of punditry this weekend, when the much-married N…
March 30th, 2009 at 10:15 am
[…] March 30, 2009 by Sherry We hear old Newt is about to become a card carrying member of the Roman Catholic Church soon. While normally that would not be newsworthy, it has become so, since Mr. Gingrich has been errr, divorced twice and once caught in adultery, which caused the second divorce and led to his current third wife. […]