Thursday, September 16, 2010

I'll have a vent, eh






I got my stick an' I got my hat
You best believe, honey, I'm all dat


Benny and his Jets today attacked "atheist extremism" and "aggressive secularism". I suppose his pontiffiness would be happier with passive secularism or atheist moderation.  

First of all, let me say that atheist extremism in the defense of liberty is no crime. 

Second, let me say that anyone wearing that much gold simply cannot be taken seriously. 

There's a reason why the Brits went on a tear about Popery and His He-ness ought to recognize that he's a guest in the Isles and not take such a popier-than-thou tone with his hosts. Then again, popes have a long history of scolding. They acquired the buttinsky disease early on and have never got over it, not even when told to get lost.

Doesn't he look like he has a jet pack on and is getting ready to launch?

I don't mind folks being Catholic. To each his own, sez I. But I do mind when any leader decides that he gets to decide, regardless of the topic. I hold to this principle aggressively, thankee kindly. I also like my history straight, hold the holy water, and his statement that Christianity is the foundation of British freedoms goes so far wide of the mark that it's both irritating and laughable at the same time. I'm not sure which freedoms he had in mind when saying that; I doubt any particular ones at all. It sounds like the sort of fuzzy-minded generalizations that I try hard to teach my students to avoid.

Wouldn't you like to see some kung-fu moves with that Staff of Holiness +6?

What few responses I've read from the secularists sound decidedly un-aggressive, and none of the atheist remarks are in the least bit extreme, and nary a neo-nazi among 'em. I suppose the pope knows some folks I don't. 

My recommendation to Il Papa is: stick to the kindly-old-man remarks like the ones you made later today in Glasgow. Encourage the young priests, fortify the faithful, and don't presume to judge the rest of us. I think your User's Manual has a passage about that somewhere.