Catholic Lunacy

Boy, if there were a Jehovah's Witness equivalent to this, I would be all over it.

Some of you might be familiar with PZ Myer's blog Pharyngula (it's linked in my sidebar, if you're interested); Myers is a biology prof in Minnesota who is also an atheist and speaks out frequently on relgious lunacy, especially attempts to force "intelligent" design and creationism in general onto the public. He's quite the internet sensation and has a good little following. His fame has gradually increased beyond the internet, most recently because of an incident with a cracker.

Back in July, in response to a Florida student's experience during communion, he issued a call for communion wafers so he could purposefully disrespect them. The student was Webster Cook who took the Eucharist host but didn't immediately eat it--he saved it for later, basically, and that didn't sit well with the church leaders, who tried to forcibly remove it from his mouth. The student got death threats and everything, supposedly egged on by Fox News. Catholics freaked their freak, comparing it to hate speech, calling for his expulsion, and the kid was bombarded by hate mail and death threats. So, Myers offered to disrespect the crackers personally in a show of support for Cook. People again freaked their freak. Myers also got death threats, including requests from the Catholic League that he be removed by the university, etc. in spite of the fact that Myers was being sarcastic. I believe some people who had threatened him in that way actually ended up being fired themselves. From Wikipedia:

In a talk show featuring Myers on Catholic Radio International, hosted by Jeff Gardner, Myers confirmed that he had been sent an unspecified number of consecrated hosts and said that he intended to “subject them to heinous cracker abuse.” When asked by Gardner to explain why he must do so, Myers said that Donohue of the Catholic League was insisting that he acknowledge the Body of Christ in the Eucharist. Gardner pointed out that Donohue had no authority to insist on such acknowledgment. The show host then asked Myers which individual possessing the Magisterial authority of the Catholic Church had insisted that he recognize the body of Christ in the Eucharist. Myers replied that no one from the Catholic Church had contacted him.[27]

On July 24, 2008, PZ Myers, in his post, "The Great Desecration," wrote that he had pierced through the "cracker" with a rusty nail, which he also used to pierce a few ripped-out pages of the Qur'an and The God Delusion, and had simply thrown them all in the trash along with old coffee grounds and a banana peel. He provided a photograph of these items in the garbage, and wrote that nothing must be held sacred, encouraging people to question everything.[28] The following day, University of Minnesota, Morris (UMN) Chancellor stated: “I believe that behaviors that discriminate against or harass individuals or groups on the basis of their religious beliefs are reprehensible,” but that the school "affirms the freedom of a faculty member to speak or write as a public citizen without institutional discipline or restraint."[29]

LOL. What a lot of skirt the man has! I wonder if he would've had more trouble if he weren't so popular. But you would think it would've ended there, after things died down a bit, but apparently it's gone up the chain to the very top. The linked article explains how there are certain sins the Catholic power structure feels can't be handled by your average priest. These things are considered so bad that only the Pope can hear them and decide. These things include trying to kill the Pope, priests who had anything to do with abortion before they became priests, priests who reveal confessions from other people (like a lawyer-client privilege clause). They also include purposefully defiling the Eucharist. That's punishable by excommunication and can only be absolved by the Pope. Guess who is listed as an example of this heinous sin? Good ol' PZ. He ranks higher in sin on the list than people who foment genocide.

I think the Pope just wants to meet him.

But it's too bad the JWs don't have anything comparable. I'd so be all over that.

-- DV