Friday 4 September 2015

FIVE REASONS FOR LEAVING THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Top Five Reasons For Leaving The Catholic Church

Image by Sky Thompson
That is, if you are unfortunate enough to rank among its numbers.
by Ben Kritikos
Many people don’t realise that when the Vatican boasts of its one billion believers, many non-believers are included in that figure by virtue of their baptism.  I reckon a good chunk of that billion don’t believe in religion at all; they may even be atheists.  Nonetheless, a decision made for them before their birth will continue to empower what is decidedly a nasty, parasitic institution.
It’s unfortunate, but true: unless you actively leave the Catholic Church by issuing the diocese where you were baptised and confirmed with an Actus Formalis Defectionis ab Ecclesia Catholica, you will still be counted among its members.  I’m guessing you haven’t done that.
Here’s the good news: an Actus Formalis Defectionis ab Ecclesia Catholica is nothing more than a formal act of defection from the Catholic Church.  You can basically write one yourself, or use the help of this website if you live in Ireland, and this one if you live anywhere else.  It takes a whole ten minutes to write theActus, find your diocese’s address, and be done with it.  These are my top five reasons you should actively do so.
Paedophilia
Reading the Wikipedia page about the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse of children, I came across this line that Catholic supporters use in defense: […] only 4% of Catholic priests have had a sexual experience with a minor, half the rate for the adult male population.
Only 4%!  That’s rich.  I suppose it’s all a bit overblown then, eh?  I mean, Catholics priests are still at least twice as good as the average man when it comes to raping children.
Priests are people, too.  Normal people know this.  It’s the Pope and the College of Bishops that can’t seem to get that fact into their heads.  Normal people have minds composed of a delicate mental balance, complete with hopes, fears, dreams and desires.  If you go messing with them, ignoring some and sublimating others, you get unbalanced individuals.  Unbalanced individuals usually have a hard time adapting to social norms; they can be known to do unhealthy, even horrible things to others — like raping children, for example.
The Catholic Church as an institution has repeatedly attempted to deflect blame, cover up revelations, intimidate and discredit detractors, and otherwise abdicate responsibility for their actions.
Misogyny
Women are ineligible to become priests — but let’s not hold that against the Catholic Church, because they’re only doing half the population a favour.  That said, Catholic belief basically blames Woman for the sins of humankind.
The Catholic Church has played a vital role in the oppression and manipulation of women throughout the years.  Some countries have had little or no choice but to send their children to Catholic schools, where children’s sex education was distorted and sick at worst, and non-existent at best.  Teenage girls who have become pregnant, even those who were raped, were treated as vile or corrupted by their Catholic “shepherds”.  I have friends who were raped, and were told by representatives of the Catholic Church that they brought it on themselves.
In Ireland, the government’s Ryan Report (2000) discovered Catholic-run institutions imprisoning girls and women against their will — sometimes for their whole lives — in places such as the Magdalene Asylums for “fallen women”.  The last “Magdalene Laundry”, in Dublin, closed in 1996.
Catholicism’s unhealthy obsession with sex contributes to women’s sexual vulnerability to this day, as Pope Benedict XVI — like his cross-dressing loony brethren before him — bemoans the use of contraception.
Politics
The Catholic Church’s defining political character is that of burning people at the stake.  Any other political entity with such a past is issued quickly to the dustbin of history, where it belongs.  Nietzsche warned of the Catholic Church that it is not their love for us that prevents them from burning us alive to save our souls, but the impotence of their love.
The Catholic Church is a significant lobby group in most developed countries.  If they could, they would deprive women the right to choose to have safe, legal abortions (if they haven’t already); they would prevent the already limited sex education provided in public schools; and they would reduce the role of teachers, carers and other public servants based on their sexual orientation.
While Nazi Germany systematically slaughtered six million Jews (as well as millions of others) the Catholic Church said nothing.  In Rwanda, which is primarily Catholic, the Church helped foment one of the worst genocides in recent history.  Right now, in 2010, instead of offering unequivocal cooperation and transparency to those who seek to address the international scandal of the Church’s abuse of children — which has already completely humiliated and discredited the Catholic Church — Pope Benedict XVI has the audacity to appear in public aloof and defiant.  His Holiness has recently gone so far as to dismiss the whole child abuse scandal as “petty gossip”.
That such an institution, with such leadership, is still considered a viable, legitimate lobby group whom anyone would lend an ear to is unconscionable.
Homosexuality
In response to the number of priests raping children, and the fact that most cases of abuse were priests raping adolescent boys, the Church prohibits the ordination of men with “homosexual tendencies”.  I’m not quite sure what, besides homosexuality, constitutes “homosexual tendencies”; but I’m hardly surprised that the Catholic Church can’t tell the difference between a gay man and a paedophile.  After all, homosexuality is an abomination according to Catholic dogma.
While priests who rape children still have a chance at salvation by repenting before death, a homosexual — inasmuch as the person is homosexual, a fact of  one’s being that one cannot simply alter — is basically doomed to eternal hell-fire.  Fancy that.
The appropriate method for dealing with “homosexual tendencies” is presumably to understand that it is a sin, suppress it, and pray to God to help you “get better”.  I beseech my readers to help me understand how a person’s sexuality can lead them to damnation, but being a really bad person who before they die admit that they were bad gets you straight into Heaven.
The Developing World
Not only does the Catholic Church refuse to endorse safe sex in sub-Saharan Africa — home to almost 70% of the world’s population living with AIDS –they even go so far as to claim that condoms don’t work to protect you from HIV!
The general scientific consensus on the matter is that condoms are the only real useful preventative measure against the AIDS pandemic.
No-one is arguing against the Catholic Church’s claim that abstinence is effective; of course it is.  However, promoting abstinence at the exclusion of any further sex education is not an effective method to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS — safe-sex education and increased access to prophylactics is.
The Catholic Church’s ideological obtuseness , and its stubborn refusal to simply keep its mouth shut in order to potentially save millions of lives is nothing short of shameful, ludicrous and criminal.

11 comments:

  1. As a reasonably intelligent and observant human being I have only one reason for leaving the catholic church. It's a man made load of falsehoods.

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  2. Many Irish people may have passively left the RC Church. They carry on with daily life and engage for Hatch Match and Dispatch. The problem is that there is no alternative option of church to choose from in Southern Ireland As you mentioned in a previous post Pat. Ireland may have some "alternative" priests but they tend to be lying low. This is the crux of the problem

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    1. Sean, your comment on lack of alternative options chimes with anon's succinct analysis on 4th Sept. And D.Dick's humorous but perceptive parrallel narrative of the reality of the RC church nicely ridicules its whole web of deception. But do we really need another "brand" of the same man made deist beliefs at all?
      What alternatives are realistically available to those unfortunates reared on an RC diet which has bred an emotional need for a spiritual crutch, and the psychological fear of eternal damnation for significant unrepented transgression?
      Surely it's time to dispense with the whole farrago of man made divisive religion, and acknowledge that our common humanity is better served simply by following the golden rule: do to others as you would be done by.

      Would such an absence of deist religion's mumbo jumbo collection of rites and rituals serve us better with leaders, whether called priests, ministers or imams matters not, to guide and lead our shared passages of hatching, matching and dispatching?
      MourneManMichael

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    2. Thanks for the thumbs up MMM. Ireland does not need another "brand" of Roman Catholicism. It does however need a recognised forum where people can come together to celebrate and explore the message of Salvation brought by Jesus. A place where people need not fear what is written in the small print. I am never more convinced of this than when I take my turn on the preaching rota in church Being human there is also need for structures to mark the familiar rites of passage

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  3. I have always thought there was a little committee in the inner sanctum of the Vatican with the terms of reference that they must keep the show on the road at all costs. Over the centuries this has involved this group receiving reports on all the influences,external,internal,beneficial or malign which can harm or boost the numbers of adherents and the finances and riches of the Catholic church. Over the years they feed all sorts of nonsense to the dull,ignorant and uneducated faithful. Miss mass on Sunday and you're off to hell. Don't eat meat on Fridays. No servile work on a Sunday etc etc Of course once the followers started to get smart and told the local branch representatives ( bishops and priests) where to go then the rules were "relaxed" Their obsession with sexually related matters has been a major pre occupation in the thinking of this little committee. I'm sure the recent vote in ireland and other places on same sex marriage and the acceptance of gay rights must have the committee burning the midnight oil. And for heavens sake don't mention contraception or abortion.
    Of course over the years they have not been slow to recognise the opportunities to fool the great unwashed with talk of Marian apparitions. After Lourdes and Fatima ( both in major European Catholic countries) it became important that good old Catholic Ireland had a Mary of their own to keep the Paddys happy. Hey presto
    Knock !! Meanwhile not to feel left out the papists in Poland got their own "apparition". Our Lady of Czestochowa.The punters stayed and the pennies rolled in. However in recent years science Has proved some of the great objects of devotion (Turin Shroud) and latterly Medjugorie may not be all they've been cracked up to be although they've been nice little earners while they've lasted. I'm thinking that in recent times the "wee" committee has its work cut out trying to "spin" the church's response to the increasing number of challenges and exposures of the many falsehoods myths and fairy stories it has propagated over the years.
    All a long long way from the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger
    Dalriada Dick

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  4. Sir,
    You wrote
    "While priests who rape children still have a chance at salvation by repenting before death, a homosexual — inasmuch as the person is homosexual, a fact of one’s being that one cannot simply alter — is basically doomed to eternal hell-fire. "
    Can you prove it from any of the Church documents? I thought the Church doesn't teach that a homosexually is doomed to hell.
    Again sir, you beseeched your readers to help you understand how a person’s sexuality can lead them to damnation. As far as I understand from the Vatican II documents and the teachings of the magesterium, the Church doesn't condemn a person based on his sexuality ( I.e homosexuality is not condemned) but a homosexual act is condemned.
    Sir, whenever you write something against anybody or any institution please show some authentic references based on which a reader can decide.
    It's very easy to make allegations or gossip and move the masses, but very difficult to stand by the truth. I agree with you in some of your viewpoints.. But I request you to refrain from baseless allegations against anyone.. Let truth reign!

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    1. ........"the church doesn't condemn a person based on his sexuality (ie. homosexuality is not condemned) but a homosexual act is condemned".
      What sort of planet does this contributor inhabit?
      Splitting of fine hairs and nit picking of this order is as valuable as pondering how many angels could balance on the point of a needle!
      Some canon lawyers, and many clerics have made a fine living out of promulgating and promoting views on such vital contributions to human health and happiness!
      Chaque chien a son jour!
      MourneManMichael

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  5. I presume you are asking Pat Buckley to stand over the statements. He didn't write them. He only copied and published a piece by someone else

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    1. The above comment is true. I did not write the piece above. I took it from somewhere else and published it - as I thought is gave food for thought - and debate.

      Having said that I agree with much that it says.

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