The pope said more in his homily than “look behind the pretty sparkly glitter.” He said the door to a church in Bethlehem is only a meter and a half high, which means people can’t enter the church while riding a horse. He thinks that’s way deep.
Anyone wishing to enter the place of Jesus’ birth has to bend down. It seems to me that a deeper truth is revealed here, which should touch our hearts on this holy night: if we want to find the God who appeared as a child, then we must dismount from the high horse of our “enlightened” reason.
And there’s the voice of the cleric for you, telling you that reason is a nasty kind of snobbish upper class superiority which has to be abandoned along with our infatuated notions of reason being enlightened, so that we can “find” the god-baby. There’s the voice of the cleric telling you to ditch the best thing about you so that you can be stupid and ignorant so that he can go on wearing expensive robes.
We must set aside our false certainties, our intellectual pride, which prevents us from recognizing God’s closeness. We must follow the interior path of Saint Francis the path leading to that ultimate outward and inward simplicity which enables the heart to see. We must bend down, spiritually we must as it were go on foot, in order to pass through the portal of faith and encounter the God who is so different from our prejudices and opinions the God who conceals himself in the humility of a newborn baby.
No we must not, you evil bastard. We must set aside our blind mindless unthinking “faith” so that we can make use of our reason and realize that there is no “God” and so no “God’s closeness.” We must pay attention to the world around us and realize that if protection rackets like yours are telling us to be stupid and ignorant, it means you’re trying to fool us. You bend down if you want to, but I’m going to go on doing my best to see things as they are, and encouraging other people to do likewise. Keep your saint and your baby and your portal of faith. I want to go with the grownups.
Ophelia, this is a guy who makes a very good living out of being a professional god-botherer. He’s anti-reason because he realizes if people thought about what he’s selling, then there’d be no more buyers.
It’s not exactly a recent attitude, of course. “Science falsely so-called” and all (although I’m guessing that isn’t quite the correct translation of 1 Timothy 6, just convenient for creationists).
The guy isn’t even original, he’s learning from Kirk Cameron!
Whether he’s pontificating in his regalia or ensconced in his palace, whether he’s speaking ex cathedra or instructing priests on how to hide child abuse, whether he’s parading in the pope-mobile or being feted by heads of State and royalty: no-one is humbler than the Pope.
Indeed, not recent at all – very large strain in Xianity. It’s thoroughly traditional.
To be enlightened, you must embrace ignorance. To understand the Beatles, you must listen to Stryper. To experience lack of pain, you must be kicked in the fork repeatedly. To reach the North Pole, you must travel south.
To understand faith, you must ignore rational thought.
It all just makes so much sense.
Tis Himself has it exactly right; if people applied reason instead of blind ignorant faith, RCC Inc. would be out of business and its executive class would have to find some other way to parasitize the poor……
It was Luther, before the enlightenment and the onset of modern science who said “reason is the enemy of faith”. The idea’s been around a while.
All of the “certainties” of science are, by definition of the process of science, provisional, with scientists ready to revise those notions in the light of more and better data. The people making positive supernatural claims are the ones with the “false certainties” that need to be set aside — with the pope right at the top of the list.
~David D.G.
Fixed it for him.
I say kick the pope.
that people used to be a lot shorter due to nutritional issues in those pre-scientific days.
which is far more likely to reach adulthood thanks to modern medical science.
We must set aside … false certainties, …pride, … [in order to find] God’s closeness. …inward simplicity … portal of faith …humility of a newborn baby. Etc.
Coming from the mouth wot said it, this stuff falls into the category of flatulent profundity.
Without the support of the unthinking, unenlightened masses, how else could this guy have any influence?
People didn’t average a meter and a half tall even in the bad old days.
RIGHT ON! Before I deconverted, one of the things that chafed me most about being Catholic was its constant refrain to abandon reason and embrace faith (read: believe what you’re told). In retrospect, it was dangerous nonsense.
Oh, and don’t trust anyone who tells you that the only way to get something worthwhile is to bend down. It usually indicates that they wish to screw you over, figuratively if not literally.
… the high horse of our “enlightened” reason.
Whaddya mean “our”, Aryan?
“Evil bastard” is not a term to be thrown around lightly.
But in this case, I wonder if anyone could possibly object. What does it take to be an evil bastard if saying “Now look the other way while I rob you” doesn’t count?
In the inimitable words of someone inimitable: ‘Fuck you very much!’
Glad to see the old hood ornament is still toeing the company line. If he started quoting Sagan and telling us to use our heads, I don’t know what I’d do. By the way, why isn’t he in jail yet? You have to stoop a little in there, too, so it must be profound, right? Give him a chance to shed some glitter and learn a little about real humility and natural consequences, the kind non-papal people know too well.
It’s the other side of the “emperor’s new clothes” coin; pretend I’m not wearing the most extravagant finery while I preach morals at you.
The idea in the last comment developed and posted at Gnu Atheism.
You know, I do kind of enjoy the idea of the pope having to take off his Silly Religious Hat and put away his staff to get in there.
I’ve known newborn babies.
Humid: yes
Humble: no
Oh, and you have to bow down to enter the houses of the alchemists in Prague, too. What does that tell us?
Brian — Love the “Falling Down” reference.
Gag. The way these people weave metaphor in with what they regard as truth is quicker than the eye.
I’m working on an analogy, forgive me. It’s another Father Christmas one, but bear with me. My sister in law has movement sensors in her house as part of her burglar alarm system. They flash red when someone has moved to instil false security in the minds if residents and to help burglars control their movements so they can steal more things.
Anyway, my sister in law told her kids that Father Christmas was using the sensors to work out whether or not the kids had been good. There was some skepticism, but then one of the kids did something naughty then looked at the sensor and it was red, so he was good from then on.
I don’t approve of this, but that’s not the issue.
The day after Christmas, the kids were acting up again and their mother said that Santa was still looking through the movement sensors to compile his list for next year.
The kids didn’t buy it at all. Either they couldn’t grasp that things they do now can be judged so far away in the future or they don’t *really truly* believe in Father Christmas.
I found this encouraging. Even with all the pressure of possibly not getting presents next year, a five and a two year old decided it was probably worth being naughty anyway. They *knew* they’d get presents, really.
Namely that whoever designed the doorway was a selfish midget with no regard for health and safety regulations.
Oh, and that while I’m bent over, Papa Ratzi can kiss my arse.
Well, right on!
I wonder how to get this message to the pope? Does he have an email address? I would like to have him read skeptical accusations of willful obfuscations, and lots of ’em.
Rick..
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