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| "Oh yeah, this will REALLY piss off the conservatives." |
Over the past few weeks, we’ve heard the initial cannon volleys from the parapets of the GOP hurled in the direction of Pope Francis. But as of yesterday, when the Pope delivered a major encyclical on the climate crisis, there was a thermonuclear freakout, from not just Fox News and AM talk radio, but nearly every Republican with internet access. Already, Greg Gutfeld from Fox News Channel’s The Five referred to the Pope as the “most dangerous man in the world.”
Pope Francis’s encyclical was specifically intended as a call to action on man-made global warming. And this particular call to action contains, among other things, the following groundbreaking line:
"We are not God. The earth was here before us and it has been given to us. This allows us to respond to the charge that Judaeo-Christian thinking, on the basis of the Genesis account which grants man “dominion” over the earth (cf. Gen 1:28), has encouraged the unbridled exploitation of nature by painting him as domineering and destructive by nature. This is not a correct interpretation of the Bible as understood by the Church."
That low rumbling noise you just heard was the sound of a million paleoconservative collapsing on their fainting couches. The Pope, here, is completely undermining the religious cornerstone for the entire GOP position on the climate, as well as pollution, animals and nature in general. Simply put: Sorry, no, the Bible doesn’t give us the power to ruin the planet for humans or other forms of life.
Now before any of you draw your knives, no I am not being fooled into thinking that this Pope is a whole new deal and that soon he will be telling Catholics that women should be allowed to be priests, that sometimes abortion is necessary, and that birth control is a perfectly reasonable method for controlling population growth.
However that does not mean that I cannot take great pleasure in watching the Pope make statements that get conservative panties in a wad.
And this, much like his message on economics, does just that.
The religious fundamentalist wingnuts will ignore it, Catholics aren't Christian in their eyes. Those fuckers believe THEY are the only Christians. That's how you know they're dangerous because they're insane.
ReplyDeleteFox news "the five" whatever that IS called him the "most dangerous man" http://bit.ly/1LpPsjT Yes they are insane and he is exposing them, cockroaches run to the dark, they hide behind their "godliness" him calling them out those cocks have no where to hide and they are very afraid....
DeleteAlso these cocks like to call "Climate change" a "religion" and the Pope is making it not a religion but legitimizing it as a "Thing" a thing all creeds, colors & religions should "get" behind b/c WE ALL LIVE ON THE EARTH!
GO POPE FRANCIS!
(I'm a witch BTW) and I love him....
Bill Maher last night laughingly referred to a group that he called "Jews and Atheists for Pope Francis"... so you have plenty of company. :)
DeleteOT oh dear, the Faith & Freedom Coalition wingnutz are having their gabfest and Governor Kasich is speaking and Governor Palin is not.
ReplyDeleteWhat does that tell those micro-brained organisms at c4p? Probably nothing.
Years and years ago, the Republicans hijacked Jesus and turned him into something that he would not recognize. For even if you do not believe in Jesus, you can believe in his socialist ideas. Yes, Jesus was a socialist. He instructed all to give their money to the poor, heal the sick and visit those in prison. He also instructed to all not to judge, but to love and accept and be tolerant of others.
ReplyDeleteJesus never said (according to those words in red in the New Testament) that women were second rate. He never said one word about gay people, he never hated on the immigrants and he certainly did not profess a love of weapons. He never was a capitalist, an entrepreneur or asked for lower taxes. Indeed, he instructed his followers to pay their taxes.
So, insofar as the Pope can call out the Republicans for the hypocrites that they are, I love this Pope.
Climate change is real as is income inequality. Perhaps I should be giving Bernie Sanders a second look. A non religious Jew, Bernie is looking more and more like the real Jesus.
In the New Testament red words of Jesus, there are none that references homosexuality. Paul, in his letters to New Testament churches does speak on the subject.
Deletedowl
Yeah, well the TEAvangelicals not so secretly thought Catholics weren't actual Christians anyway, that the Catholic church was the "Whore of Rome", so no change there. But the Encyclical does put Right-Wing Catholic politicians in a bind, forces them to choose publicly whether to be good Catholics OR good Republicans. And the Catholic base has always been a little morally nervous over the Party's tossing of the sick and the poor under the bus of unconstrained Capitalism anyway, unlike the TEAhadists who do so gleefully - and twice on Sunday. Prosperity Gospel, Baby! Never mind that it's everything that Jesus DIDN'T stand for.
ReplyDeleteYou're referring to American Catholics when you talk about Right-wing views and hating on the poor.
DeleteAnd so is Pope Francis.
I'm not a fan of the Catholic Church due to their "sordid" past (and present in many cases). However, many things that come out of this pope's mouth do make sense.
ReplyDeleteI'm listening to him with caution and applaud his stance on global warming...
What a great picture! I love our president and how he seems to make everyone laugh. This Pope is a keeper!
ReplyDeleteWhile we're at it, I recommend the 1964 movie, "The Gospel According To St. Matthew." It was directed by an Italian communist, Pier Paolo Pasolini, and is a much more accurate depiction of Jesus Christ than any other movie. No glitz no B.S.
ReplyDeleteWatch it even if you are an atheist or agnostic. good interpretation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2a1gBrca6A
Did I say Odetta's on the soundtrack>
The conservatives' ongoing Deranged Pope Syndrome reminds me of the story about the over-eager wealthy man who was willing to do anything to be a Christian. Remember? When Jesus told him, "Sell all your belongings and give your money to the poors. Oh, and if you can find the decency to try for like, I don't know, maybe at least five goddamn minutes out of your overprivileged farce of a life to NOT be a smug lyin'-ass chickenshit warmongering motherfucker who's terrified by his own poop, I'd super-fucking appreciate it, LOL thanks!" And the wealthy man was all like, "Holy shit, Jesus Christ-- have you actually been Russell Brand this whole time?" And then Fonzie goes, "Hey, watch me jump this three-headed shark-nado!" And then that chick with the boobs woke up and the whole thing had been a dream. Remember? THAT'S how awesome this pope is. It's also how awesome these painkillers are.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that chick had boobs. And, yes, the painkillers are awesome...
DeleteAs sad as I am about the church shootings, they have knocked the Pope's encyclical off the front page. My local TV news never reported on it at all.
ReplyDeleteI'm waiting to hear journalists ask tough questions about climate change in the coming presidential debates. And they must demand strong answers, not "I'm not a scientist". After all, we can't let temperatures soar to above 2 degrees C, can we? And that is where we are heading if we don't act now.
As a devout ATHEIST, I believe that Pope Francis is the best thing that happevned to the Catholic Church since Jesus Christ, himself.
ReplyDeleteI agree
DeleteThe Catholic church has no choice. They must attract and appeal to younger people.
ReplyDeleteWhat Pope Francis did, even though he does have a science background, is bring this into a moral realm - what are they going to do now, tell him he shouldn't speek about morality?
ReplyDeleteWhat Pope Francis did, even though he does have a science background, is bring this into a moral realm - what are they going to do now, tell him he shouldn't speek about morality?
ReplyDeleteYou have to really wonder why they voted for him. Was it because they needed someone like him to root out the sex perverts? There was a reason that a very conservative bunch of old men who were focused on taking the church backwards suddenly elevated a very progressive Pope Francis.
ReplyDeleteThe chalice is not without its poison, but more power to him.
Wel, 7:21, according to Catholic dogma, it's supposed to be the Holy Spirit guiding the voting....
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad he's addressing this issue in his encyclical. Our media is more myopic and glosses over world news. RAI, the italian station on cable, has had debates on both sides of the issue and the lion's share is with Science and against the deniers. They also covered our mass killing in depth, along with world events in other nations.
ReplyDeleteAs an ex Catholic and non believer, I admire this Pope for having the guts to take this stand.
I wish the Catholic Church had a leader like him during the Pedophile Priest "problem".
Every journey starts with one step.
Big Oil is still pushing the clean safe domestic fracking commercials. Wonder if they ever googled "Centralia Pennsylvania"? (there's been a smoldering underground coal fire for years, no one has a clue how much environmental damage it's caused, it's a wasteland and never mentioned on television, except for Dr Maddow years ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania
Thanks for the great post, especially the "before the knives come out" part