No Sunlight Here

Change Is Not Coming: Pope Francis’ Meeting With Kim Davis Signals That ‘Culture Wars’ Are Still Raging:

Pope Francis secretly met with Kim Davis last Thursday in Washington D.C., according to The New York Times.

The Rev. Frederico Lombardi “confirmed the meeting, but declined to elaborate on it. He said he ‘did not deny that the meeting took place, but I have no other comments to add,’” the Times reported. Lombardi also confirmed the meeting to Buzzfeed News.

This is all really weird and smells funny to me. If this all happened, then why the secrecy from the Vatican. Do they simply cover things up out of habit? (You decide if the pun is intended or not.)

My initial reaction to all of this is that it is simply not true, even if Rev. Frederico Lombardi says that it is. I guess time will tell.

ThinkProgress shares my skepticism:

The only other source of information about the alleged meeting is Kim Davis’ lawyers, and they don’t have the best track record.

After Moynihan’s first report, Davis’ attorneys at the Liberty Counsel have provided all of the other information about what may have happened. They issued their own press release, which contained no new information except another comment from Davis and a comment from Mat Staver, chairman and spokesperson for the anti-gay hate group. Staver has since given interviews to CBS News and the New York Times. Davis recounted her experience in an ABC News interview but offered no new details, making Staver the only source of information about the meeting, even though he wasn’t present for it.

The announcement that Davis had met with Pope Francis came mere hours after the Liberty Counsel had to admit that their claim of a massive prayer rally for her in Peru was fabricated. They tried to pin the mistake on Peruvian Congressman Julio Rosas, who allegedly provided them with the photographic evidence — a photo of a convention that took place back in May of 2014. On Tuesday, Rosas explained in an interview with Perú21 that “we always pray in our homes for other Christians,” but he denied any account of a stadium rally for Davis. Thus, there remains a question of where exactly the Liberty Counsel got the idea that the picture was a rally for Davis — a point they adamantly defended at first — severely undermining how trustworthy the organization’s claims might be.

Staver’s additional details about the logistics of the Davis’ visit to the Vatican embassy are, as such, similarly tenuous. He claims that the couple rode to the embassy in a black SUV, and that Kim “made her hair up in a different way” so that it would not be the recognizable style from her mugshot. Though Liberty Counsel was eager to report that the meeting had happened immediately, “we wanted to keep that quiet to respect the Pope’s broader message because we didn’t want the Pope’s visit to be overshadowed with Kim Davis.” Apparently the meeting was scheduled “days in advance” and “was confirmed the evening before and the morning of.” Though he says Davis would have happily traveled to D.C. to meet with Pope Francis, “it was just happenstance” that she was already in town for the Values Voter Summit, where the Family Research Council honored her with a “Cost of Discipleship Award.”

I wonder if Pope Francis knows anything about Mat Staver and Liberty Counsel? Does he know that they are basically a hate group that judges gay people?

Catholics Are Confusing

When I searched on the internet for Hail Mary the top result was Hail Mary pass. Once again, I blame Tim Tebow.

Are Catholics breaking their own rules when they say the Hail Mary prayer?

Merriam-Webster defines prayer as: "an address (as a petition) to God or a god in word or thought".

Wikipedia says: "In Christianity, worship is reverent honor and homage paid to God. 

One of the Ten Commandments is: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

I think that praying to Mary is sacrilege and blasphemy. The Catholic Church thinks otherwise. They always seem to give themselves an out somehow. The Intercession of Saints comes to the rescue, and makes praying to saints hunky dory. 

Apologies

In the 17th century the Catholic Church didn’t much like Galileo Galilei. It took until 1992 for the Catholic Church to acknowledge that the Earth was not stationary and express regret for how the Galileo affair was handled.

Charles Darwin died in 1882. Creationists still hate him today. Thanks to The Rev. Malcolm Brown perhaps there is some hope that more will see the light of truth and science.

From Cleric: Church owes Darwin an apology:

The Church of England owes Charles Darwin an apology for its hostile 19th-century reaction to the naturalist's theory of evolution, a cleric wrote on an Anglican Web site launched Monday.

The Rev. Malcolm Brown, who heads the church's public affairs department, issued the statement to mark Darwin's bicentenary and the 150th anniversary of the seminal work "On the Origin of Species," both of which fall next year.

Brown said the Church of England should say it is sorry for misunderstanding him at the time he released his findings and, "by getting our first reaction wrong, encouraging others to misunderstand (Darwin) still."

The Church of England said Brown's statement reflected its position on Darwin but did not constitute an official apology.

The church's stance sets it apart from fundamentalist Christians, who believe evolutionary theory is incompatible with the biblical story of the Earth's creation.

Read the rest here.

It is 2008. Nearly all religious people seem to hate Richard Dawkins. Perhaps one day in the future, apologies will appear in the news from all the major religious leaders saying that Dawkins was right all along, and maybe they had gotten that God thing wrong.

It Must Be God's Will

God works in mysterious ways. I think he must want priests to sell cocaine. Or maybe he’s testing us in some way.

From Priest at Univ. of Illinois charged with dealing cocaine from church office and rectory by Associated Press:

A Catholic priest on the University of Illinois campus has been charged with selling cocaine from his church office and rectory.

The Reverend Christopher Layden pleaded not guilty Thursday to two counts of delivery of less than 1 gram of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a church and one count of possession with intent to deliver 1 to 15 grams of cocaine near a church.

The 33-year-old was arrested Wednesday at St. John's Catholic Newman Center after investigators found 3 grams of cocaine and drug paraphernalia while searching his home and office. His bond was set at $50,000.

Read the rest here.

What does the Bible say about coke? Why do we consider coke to be bad if it’s not mentioned in the Bible?

Are Superiors Ever Happy?

From Italian priest cancels nun beauty contest:

A Mondragone, Italy, priest said he has canceled plans for a nun beauty contest after religious leaders objected to his idea.

Father Antonio Rungi said the contest, which he described as an attempt to dispel the stereotype of all nuns being old and unpleasant looking, will not appear on his blog as planned next month due to objections from local Catholic leaders, The Daily Telegraph reported Wednesday.

"My superiors were not happy," Rungi said of the church's reaction to his plan to post pictures and descriptions of each contestant on his blog.

"The local bishop was not happy, but they did not understand me either," he said.

Read the rest here.

Crackers And Wafers And Rudeness, Oh My!

Some other bloggers, internetters, and unmentionables think that PZ Myers was rude or abusive to the Catholics because he “didn't accord the Eucharist proper respect.” Some think that he is a jerk. Some find his conduct reprehensible. Just what is the proper respect that an atheist should have for the Eucharist?

Here’s what Catholics believe about atheists like Mr. Myers and myself:

We will spend eternity burning in hell. They believe this just as much as they believe in transubstantiation.

How rude is that?

The god that the Catholics believe in is a fucking asshole.

How rude is that?

For a more sane perspective on all of this visit Majikthise.

The world would be a better place with no religion at all.

Who Cares What The Roman Catholic Church Says?

From The church this, the church that:

The Roman Catholic Church worries far too much about cells in dishes and far too little about existing, thinking people.