Religious Correctness
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This coming Friday, the convoluted Christian calendar celebrates one of the most inane traditions in all of human history: Easter. How many actually believe the myth that a dead man got up and wandered about before floating miraculously into the netherworld is unknown. What is known, is that in order to truly take this myth seriously one must also admit their self-delusional status. Of course, few actually do realize their duality and go on to buy the whole plastic banana including virgins who give birth, seas that part at ones command, and rivers running with milk and honey… Such evangelicals spend their days waiting (now some 2000 odd years) for this cat’s rebound from said netherworld to save their sorry asses. That would be their description of themselves, not mine.
Now there is no doubt that there are plenty of people who go to buildings to supposedly worship this supernatural occurrence, but I suspect few actually believe it in their hearts. Most people are far too immersed in reality to honestly believe such supernatural baloney – they know it simply is not historical fact nor possible in the real world of profit and matter. Most understand that it is myth conjured up by modern mystics as delivered not through revelation, but rather through the pipeline of mystics running some 2000 years.. But for an hour or two they pretend, and incredibly drag their unsuspecting children with them. Such is a form of child abuse, but of course no one calls them on it. Well, except me.. It is, damn it.
The truth of the matter is that in 1582 Pope Gregory XIII established our modern calendar, fixing the rules determining the date of Easter. This year Easter falls on April 4th, but in any given year it can jump around by as much as a month on the Gregorian calendar. So much for the anniversary of a supposed historical event… But what is truly incredible about all of this is the utter hypocrisy: the Catholic Church persecuted Galileo for defending the very ideas on which its Easter reform depended. Pope John Paul II did his best to back peddle on this, admitting that his predecessors had been wrong,. At least he had the good sense to call the Catholic persecution of Galileo a “sad misunderstanding” that “now belongs to the past.” Well, the whole damn Easter holiday is nonsense – a “sad misunderstanding.”
Well, actually, it is a grave historical error that also, clearly, belongs in the past..
So, I found it rather amusing that one week before this idiotic masquerade the city of Davenport, Iowa decided to remove Good Friday from its municipal calendar. And of course the faithful and the civil servants screamed bloody murder. The faithful that anyone should challenge their mystic holiday, the civil servants because they get the day off! Apparently, the Davenport City Administrator took it upon himself (probably not a good idea in Iowa) to unilaterally change Good Friday to “Spring Holiday.” Hmmm, methinks the Administrator may need some of that resurrection magic. Soon.
What is odd about the whole story, is that the holier than thou crowed is screaming that this renaming of Good Friday to Spring Holiday is a reflection of “political correctness.” Well, I find that too cute by half. What is actually going on here is religious correctness. If anyone dares challenge these mystics on the reality of what they engage in, they are immediately labeled a bigot, a crank, a left wing lunatic, and above all a manipulator enabled by “political correctness.” Apparently, PC is some dark force conjured up by the negative good; the Devil himself, perhaps.. But of course the whole notion of evil is a rather difficult subject for Christians, so I won’t belabor that point..
Well, it appears that the mystics will have their Good Friday as the City Council in Davenport balked and will not support the Administrator (story here). And that is sad, because here was a guy merely attempting to right an historical error. Perhaps he is committed to reason as an absolute principle. Perhaps he follows facts wherever they lead, and doesn’t grant other men the terms of reason. Perhaps his only guide is logic and reality. Perhaps he clearly understands that mindless obedience demanded by religion is incompatible with the way the world actually works, and that rational thinking is what all of human progress and prosperity comes from.
Perhaps.
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Well put, Slim. I admire the fervent ardor of your devout atheism.
You might want to brush up on your knowledge of the Galileo affair, however, before you go throwing it around as a prima facie example of regious animosity towards science. Its quite a bit more complicated than you know or suspect.
First of all, let’s not forget that heliocentric theory was first postulated by Copernicus, a scholarly Catholic priest, some 75 years before Galileo, and Copernicus was not only uncensored by the church, but was celebrated for his views. Galileo, whose telescopic studies found Jovian moons and the phases of Venus, did not prove heliocentricity; his observations only provided a basis for reinforcing Copernican theory. Actual proof of the heliocentricity – such as observing stellar parallax as the earth revolved around the sun – would not be forthcoming for another 200 years or so.
No, Galileo’s conflict with the church was not Copernican theory, per se, but rather that he wanted the church to ecclesiastically endorse the heliocentric theory, in the absence of proof. (You know, kind of like believing in resurrections and virgin births and stuff without proof – very unscientific). Galileo badgered the papacy on the issue, forcing the issue on the church, writing books and publicly embarrassing the Pope in the process. Yes, the church did, unwisely, censor Galileo for these affronts. But the fact is that his being prevented from writing about the unproven theory, and being restricted to a villa on the outskirts of Rome can hardly be characterized as “persecution” in the sense of physical or mental torture.
By the way, Galileo also wanted the church to endorse another of his theories – this one with no Copernican pedigree – which held that the earth’s tides were caused by the earth’s rotation. The church rejected that one too on the basis of lack of proof. I don’t think anyone will vindicate Galileo on that one – even in another 200 years.
Roadkill, you are so full of it – it is rather stunning…Did you learn this religiously cleansed version of history from your local Catholic child molester? We all know that Catholic Priests are of the highest moral standing, and if they ever stray we will simply forgive them…. and let the lives they have shattered fall by the wayside. Good grief.
Regarding Copernicus, he supported the calendar project because he was motivated by the idea of predicting the first day of spring and the following full moon – so in some way so as to more accurately deal with the calculation of Easter. Or, in his words, to “contribute somewhat even to the Commonwealth of the Church.”
The only reason the Catholic mystics accepted his science was purely religious hedonism – they didn’t really take it seriously.. The only reason they didn’t burn Copernicus at the stake was that his idea could be used for their ends – it was a convenient calculation that they could use to bypass reason. Moreover, he was a nice little believer with a few inconvenient ideas. They perceived him as a useful idiot, not too different from you (apparently). So they denied the reality of how the universe actually works, yet used the Copernican theory for their own ends. This is a vehicle of manipulation, of religious correctness, that runs through religion in general. You can run from it, but you cannot hide. Sadly, for you and the other mystics out there, reality trumps your idiocy.
To suggest that the Catholic Mystics did not persecute Galileo is an utter denial of reality! They absolutely persecuted him, and they did so for defending Copernican theory (among other things). All of this, unlike the basis of Christianity in general, is based in irrefutable historical fact – sorry, no revelations here. He was persecuted by the Papal Inquisition, because he “held and believed a doctrine which was false and contrary to Holy Scripture.” The Inquisition punished Galileo for believing that “one may hold and defend . . . an opinion after it has been declared and defined contrary to Holy Scripture.” From the Inquisition’s perspective such was Galileo’s greatest “sin.” The man used his mind, we’ll teach him..
So, what did they do to this man?
In 1615 the Church forced (as in physical force) Galileo to denounce his life’s work, and forced him never to teach what he had discovered. But a blossoming rational mind is hard to stop, and he persisted. In 1633, Galileo again published his findings on the observed orbits of the planets. The Catholic mystics in charge of the Inquisition refused even to look through his telescope, thinking the devil was at work and could create illusions as one peered into the “magic tube.” To literally avoid hot feet at the stake Galileo was once again FORCED to denounced his life’s work, and was placed under house arrest for the rest of his life. If forcing one to publicly denounce one’s life work based on reason and logic is NOT mental persecution, than what the fuck is?!?! He was both mentally and physically persecuted. But of course, this isn’t persecution to people who live in the land of mysticism…