I'm always amazed at how incredibly insightful and poignant Andrew Sullivan can be, while simultaneously espousing demonstrably silly nonsense derived from his own rather self-contradictory cosmology. In his most recent essay at NY Mag titled "The Pope and the Pagan", Sullivan, ...read more
Friedrich Nietzsche once wrote that, "In truth, there was only one Christian, and he died on the cross." Nietzsche believed that the Church had essentially killed God by demanding its followers choose faith over genuine moral action. "The Christians have never practiced the ...read more
“I’ve been to lots of schools, and I know children. Unfortunately there are children who seek affection because they don’t receive it at home and I understand that some priests can give up. Pedophilia is a sin, and like all sins has to be accepted.” - The Rev. Gino Flaim ...read more
The world truly is turning a corner when it comes to accepting homosexuality as a completely normal and healthy facet of human existence. In a remarkable social shift, Ireland has voted to legalize gay marriage by popular vote. The traditionally Catholic country only ...read more
If the rumblings emanating from the Catholic Church's farcical two-week synod in the Vatican are any indication, we might soon be seeing a change in the way the clergy interacts with and talks about gay people. Whereas now the Church taught that homosexual acts are sinful and ...read more
On Monday, more than 200 clergymen of the Catholic Church gathered in the Vatican for the beginning of a two-week synod about family, including matters pertaining to marriage, divorce, homosexuality, and sex. Please note the use of the masculine, clergymen, because as everyone ...read more
Hey! Did you know that the majority of Catholics ignore the teachings of their own church when it comes to their sex lives? As shocking as it is that people would have such little regard for the sage sexual wisdom of a group of single old celibate men in funny hats, it's true. ...read more
Pope Francis has been busy in 2013 redefining what it means to be a follower of Christ. Disregarding the pomp and ceremony of the Catholic Church, the new Pope has refused to live in the Papal apartments, going for the modest trappings of a Vatican guesthouse. He gave up the ...read more
I was born and raised Catholic, but I haven't been part of organized religion since, roughly, the '80s. But it doesn't matter. Pope Francis is inspirational. This week alone, news broke that he's been consulting with bishops worldwide about how to reach out to same-sex ...read more
There's one thing in life I've learned about people who hate things - gays, blacks, jews, women, men, or whoever it may be - the pathology invariably isn't about the object of hatred, but hater themselves. Hate women? You were probably the ugly dude at school no one wanted to ...read more
If you want to understand the history of Vatican, how it came about and just how weird it is, check out this brilliant short video from CPG Grey. It really is a very, very weird place... (h/t the Dish): ...read more
As many people around the world celebrate Easter, I have some thoughts to share about some contradictions about faith and the holiday (and not the obvious ones about how nothing we do in the United States to celebrate the holiday has anything to do with its origins, I mean I ...read more
Since I get all my information these days from the always reliable Facebook News Service -- basically whatever links my Facebook friends, in their infinite wisdom, decide to circulate and express an opinion about -- I now know the real reason for Pope Benedict XVI's hasty and ...read more
I suppose it would be too much to ask for the Catholic Church to simply close up shop once Pope Benedict officially steps down, eh? The important thing to keep in mind in the wake of the once-and-future Joseph Ratzinger's surprise announcement that he'll be abdicating the ...read more
By Chez Pazienza: Here's the thing to keep in mind when you hear Mitt Romney trying to distance himself from Richard Mourdock and the comments the Republican Senate candidate made about abortion last night: He's completely full of shit. The truth is that Romney and his ...read more
Andrew Sullivan on the Catholic Church's ridiculous and morally bankrupt stance on contraception: I find the protectors of child rapists preaching to women about contraception to be a moral obscenity. When all the implicated bishops and the Pope resign, ther replacements ...read more
As I've said in the past: Until the church is subject to a full RICO-style investigation of its serial crime, justice will not be served. As early as the mid-1950s, decades before the clergy sexual-abuse crisis broke publicly across the U.S. Catholic landscape, the founder of a ...read more
The Catholic church once again demonstrates the follies of organized religion. A senior Vatican cleric has defended the excommunication of the mother and doctors of a nine-year-old girl who had an abortion in Brazil after being raped. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, head of the ...read more
Bill Donohue won't be pleased. That's a good thing. The Vatican demanded Wednesday that a bishop who denied the Holocaust recant his positions before being fully admitted into the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican also said in a statement that Pope Benedict XVI didn't know ...read more
Image via Wikipedia So, is this what the church does when it isn't covering up for pedophiles? Seriously, come on. Pope Benedict XVI has lifted the excommunications of four traditionalist bishops, including that of a Holocaust denier whose rehabilitation sparked outrage among ...read more
