I haven’t read these books, but if Pullman is an atheist and uses his stories to warn against religious tyranny, they can’t be all bad. The buzz on the movie isn’t very good, but I’ll probably end up checking it out, along with all the others who will be buying books and tickets to see what all the fuss is about. I’m sure Pullman is writing a “thank you” note to these groups for providing him with so much free publicity.

Apparently, the Church is not satisfied with ruining its own image with rampant corruption, deception, and centuries of sanctioned pedophilia. Now it seeks to further denigrate its integrity with bullshit protests against childrens fantasy books. Well, if the Catholic groups know about anything, they certainly know about books of fantasy. And children. Especially soft and supple doe-eyed children who know how to keep secrets…

This sad attempt to “protect” children is laughable given the history of predatory priests being shuffled around from church to church. But then again, those priests weren’t writing fables that posit the idea God doesn’t exist; they were only confirming it each time they reached into a child’s pants. Looking to the Catholic Church to protect children is like asking a dog to guard a steak.

In a properly advanced society, no school board would be subject to the whims of organized religion. But Catholic School Boards will continue to try and hide the truth about this world from their students, and thousands of parents will willingly send their kids to be molded by these institutions into good, God-fearing, guilt-stricken, anxiety-ridden, intellectually-impaired adults — something the public school system already does well enough.

When the Church is able to clean it’s own yard, maybe then people will take their criticisms seriously. That is, if we can get past the funny hats. But for now they will continue to grapple with their weakening grip on the minds of those they seek to control and watch helplessly as their credibility and relevance continue to decline.

From CNN:

(The) doctor who first diagnosed Besra, says the church should not push Besra’s case because it was medication, not a miracle that cured her. “It is scientifically proven that the tumor that she had was linked to tuberculosis,” he said. “And it responded to an anti-tubercular drug.”

Hmmm…ok.

Another interesting fact that has emerged from the beatification news is the revelation that she often had crises of faith, feelings of abandonment and rejection from God. In fact, these “attacks from the Devil” were sometimes so severe that a bishop ordered the rites of exorcism to be read over her. We think that maybe she was feeling a little guilty over some of her more less publicized acts of kindness, which include:

• Publicly endorsing the brutal Duvalier dictatorship in Haiti saying the regime “loved the poor” when in fact they were carrying out mass executions and being anything but a “friend” to the poor.
• Accepting over a million dollars from Savings & Loan swindler, Charles Keating. This money was never returned, even when it was later discovered that a good portion of it had been stolen.
• Claiming that abortion was the greatest threat to world peace during her acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize.
• Continuing to propagate the Catholic belief that contraception is a sin in a city deluged by overcrowding, poverty, starving children and destitute families. (Hey, what’s a few more mouths not to feed?)
• When Ireland held a referendum trying to remove the ban on divorce, she told people there would be “no forgiveness” for them if they voted in approval of it.

So instead of just being the tired old lady who washed the feet of the poor (while licking the feet of the rich), Mother Teresa was busy endorsing the archaic and medieval dogma of the Catholic Church to the people who would most benefit from not being exposed to its hurtful, demeaning and evolutionary stunting teachings. She used her clout and “myth” to lobby Catholic causes in palaces and mansions all around the world.

If you want more details on the real Mother Teresa and not the Vatican-generated, kiddie-glove treated bio you get in the media, check out Christopher Hitchen’s book, The Missionary Position. While this lady did some great works and helped a lot of people, she was no moral compass, and certainly no saint.

Here is an anecdote from one of Hitchen’s interviews:

“Mother Teresa wrote to the court and said, look, Charles Keating is a great friend of the poor and a lovely man and you should go easy on him. I reprinted her letter, in which she says if he’s done anything wrong she can’t believe it and she doesn’t know what it is. The deputy D.A. of L.A. County a very clever guy by the name of Paul Turley, who I would say from his letter must at least have been a Catholic in his life, if he isn’t still.

He wrote her back a letter, explaining the process by which Keating had separated really large numbers of poor people from their life savings without any scruple at all or remorse, and then pointed out that in their audits they discovered that quite a lot of the money he had stolen he’d given to Mother Teresa. He said, now that you know this when are you going to give it back? At this point she broke off the correspondence and made no move to return the money.”

A true saint, indeed.

Other sources used for this posting:

Christopher Hitchens on Mother Teresa – by Matt Cherry. Free Inquiry Magazine . Volume 16, Number 4.

The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa’s Crimes Against Humanity- An Interview with Christopher Hitchens – by Danny Postel. LIP Magazine. September, 1998

The Ghoul of Calcutta – By Christopher Hitchens. The Nation. April, 1992. x