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| Image via gandystuff.tumblr.com |
"Pope's
Christmas present to gays: you're (still) a threat to human nature"
by Jordan
Arseneault (originally published on 2Bmag.com)
Karl
Ratzinger, aka Pope Benedict XVI, the head of the most corrupt and
homophobic organization on the planet, said in his speech to church
officials at the Vatican today that the institution of the family is
in the midst of a “crisis that threatens it to its foundations –
especially in the western world.” Like a well-trained logician in
the tradition of Thomas Aquinas, Ratziger outlines a series of
propositions which attempt to invalidate the rights of same sex
couples to marry, a constant thorn in the side of his organization,
which relies on heterosexual family structures to maintain the
teachings of its misogynist and homophobic system of thought and
domination.
“The
family [is] the authentic setting in which to hand on the blueprint
of human existence. This is something we learn by living it with
others and suffering it with others. So it became clear that the
question of the family is not just about a particular social
construct, but about man himself – about what he is and what it
takes to be authentically human,” Ratizinger told the cardinals and
other unmarried priests in the chapel known as the Clementine Hall.
The irony that, in preventing same-sex couples from forming legally
recognized families, his church is actually fighting the creation of
families, was obviously lost on him.
He
goes on to say that gay marriage is a threat to the notion of
“commitment,” echoing the widespread prejudice that gay
relationships are not as lasting or “real” as straight ones :
“First of all there is the question of the human capacity to make a
commitment or to avoid commitment. Can one bind oneself for a
lifetime? Does this correspond to man’s nature? Does it not
contradict his freedom and the scope of his self-realization? Does
man become himself by living for himself alone and only entering into
relationships with others when he can break them off again at any
time? Is lifelong commitment antithetical to freedom? Is commitment
also worth suffering for? Man’s refusal to make any commitment –
which is becoming increasingly widespread as a result of a false
understanding of freedom and self-realization as well as the desire
to escape suffering – means that man remains closed in on himself
and keeps his 'I'
ultimately for himself, without really rising above it.”
Riiiiight. So the desire of LGBT people to form lasting relationships
somehow contradicts and undermines God's plan for humans to engage in
lasting relationships. Fascinating!
Then
comes the big whammy: gays are contributing to the loss of “essential
elements of the human experience.”
“[O]nly
in self-giving does man find himself, and only by opening himself
to the other, to others, to children, to the family, only by
letting himself be changed through suffering, does he discover
the breadth of his humanity. When such commitment is repudiated, the
key figures of human existence likewise vanish: father, mother,
child...” Sounds like Karl wants us all to be bottoms, but doesn't
want us to ever find a top!
With
the marked rise in support for same-sex marriage in France, Mr. Pope
made a predictable shout-out to the French community, notably by
quoting renowned feminist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir. Ratzinger begins by discounting: “one is not born a woman, one becomes so” (on
ne naît pas femme, on le devient),”
quoting the famed existential writer of Le
Deuxième sexe, before
offering us a primer on contemporary gender theory.
“These
words lay the foundation for what is put forward today under the term
'gender' as a new philosophy of sexuality. According to this
philosophy, sex is no longer a given element of nature, that man has
to accept and personally make sense of: it is a social role that we
choose for ourselves, while in the past it was chosen for us by
society. The profound
falsehood
of this theory and of the anthropological revolution contained within
it is obvious.” Clear as day. What exactly would compel us to
believe anything that he has to say about gender and sexuality, when
his business still bans
women
from occupying positions of priesthood, the basic middle management
position required to occupy the upper echelons of his multinational
corporation?
Then
comes the kicker: “When the freedom to be creative becomes the
freedom to create oneself, then necessarily the Maker himself is
denied and ultimately man too is stripped of his dignity as a
creature of God, as the image of God at the core of his being. The
defence of the family is about man himself. And it becomes clear that
when God is denied, human dignity also disappears. Whoever defends
God is defending man.” Yep. All of those people who have killed and
raped and pillaged in the name of “God,” they were “defending
man,” while the simple and demographically marginal fact of men
wanting to marry men, women wanting to marry women, and of
transgender people even
existing
is the real threat to human nature and civilization?
Thanks,
Karl. It's all clear to me now. You really do hate us. The official
theological highest authority of half of the world's Christians has
officially singled out gays, lesbians, and transgender people who
support same-sex marriage and embrace the fluidity of gender are a
threat to the human race. Let there be no mistaking who is the real
threat here: the Catholic church has and will always have the upper
hand on destroying and violating the human. The hierarchical,
heterosexist, hypcritical ideas that Ratzinger expounds barely mask a
message of hate and exclusion towards the LGBTQ people of the world
that feeds into laws like Uganda's “Kill the Gays” bill, and all
of the violence and exclusion that gay people face and will continue
to face the world over. This Christmas, if you celebrate it, remember
who loves you, and remember who doesn't. The world is apparently
worse off with us in it. Happy holidays from the Vatican!
