Lightly Seared On The Reality Grill

Here is a Facebook status that perfectly exemplifies everything that is wrong and stupid about religion.

Someone posts an utterly ludicrous statement, asserting that it is a fact. When someone politely points out the actual astronomical facts the creationist fool does the online equivalent of sticking his fingers in his ears and shouting: “LA LA LA! I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”

I have, in the past, referred to the religious as being wilfully ignorant. This Facebook status demonstrates why I think this.

(via Pharyngula)

Staying with the subject of my last post, the NSS asks What’s Going On?

Last week, the chapter of the Ryan Report that had been suppressed pending a court case was published. It revealed yet again a catalogue of deliberate and carefully orchestrated cover ups by the Church, both locally and in the Vatican. Children who might have been spared the trauma of sexual abuse were sacrificed in order that the Church could spare itself further criticism.

Yet another report about abuse in the diocese of Cloyne has been presented to the Irish Government, and soon there will be another extensive list of victims and another account of the Vatican’s contempt for them.

But it is not only child abuse that the Pope should be made to answer for. The Vatican bank is under investigation (again) for money laundering. It is a bank that is excused the regulation that any other bank is bound to observe. But there are strong suspicions that it is hand in glove with the mafia.

Last week we revealed that the Vatican is in negotiation with Belarus over the signing of a pact that will give the Catholic Church numerous privileges in that country. A country that is, at present, ruled with an iron fist by “Europe’s last dictator”, the despotic Alexander Lukashenka who has now gained the nickname “Europe’s Mugabe”.

He fixes elections, jails opponents and suppresses dissent with ruthless violence. Just the sort of man the Vatican likes to do business with. Just as it did with Hitler. And it is still enjoying the fruits of that concordat, with millions of euros flowing into the Vatican’s coffers from the German taxpayer. Similarly with the concordats it signed with Mussolini in Italy, with the tyrannical Franco in Spain and his counterpart Salazar in Portugal. And with just about every foul dictator that has infested South America.

Why is this never questioned?

Why indeed?

As I scroll through my RSS reader, a couple of stories jumped out at me…

Pope to deliver Thought For The Day on Christmas Eve

Pope Benedict has recorded a Christmas message especially for the UK, to be broadcast by the BBC on Christmas Eve.

Ariz. Hospital May Lose Catholic Status Over 2009 Abortion Case

St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Ariz., will be stripped of its Catholic status on Friday unless Catholic Healthcare West meets several demands outlined in a Nov. 22 letter from Bishop Thomas Olmsted.

The issue stems from the 2009 decision by the hospital to authorize an abortion to save the life of a pregnant woman. The woman, who already had four children, was 11 weeks pregnant and had pulmonary hypertension, a rare condition in which continuing the pregnancy often jeopardizes the life of the woman. Physicians concluded that the placenta had to be removed to prevent the patient from dying.

Yes, you read that right. The Catholic Church believes that to be a good Catholic, a doctor must stand back and allow a mother of four to die. And the priests are going to throw a tantrum until they get their way.

Why the BBC is giving a platform to the leader of this vile death cult is beyond me.

(Credit: The Arizona Hospital Story came via Butterflies and Wheels. Ophelia Benson’s take on it is worth a read)

Update: Yahoo! Buzz sums up the news of the Pope’s message perfectly.