Sunday, August 17, 2008

I Suppose If You Must Believe In Something...

It might as well be completely irrational faith.

A priest of Westminster, the leading diocese of the Catholic Church of England and Wales, has written that promiscuity, whether homosexual or heterosexual, can lead to dire spiritual consequences, in addition to the dangers to physical health.

Promiscuity, as well as homosexuality and pornography, says 73 year-old Fr. Jeremy Davies, is a form of sexual perversion and can lead to demonic possession. Offering what may be an explanation for the explosion of homosexuality in recent years, Fr. Davies said, "Among the causes of homosexuality is a contagious demonic factor."

Fr. Davies continues: "Even heterosexual promiscuity is a perversion; and intercourse, which belongs in the sanctuary of married love, can become a pathway not only for disease but also for evil spirits."


Ah ... so the Catholic Church is getting back to the old "The Devil Made Me Do It" excuses. The logic of these people is amusing indeed. On one hand, human beings are supposed to have free will; on the other hand, they come around and argue that all sorts of evil, supernatural beings are driving us? To borrow from an old Bill Cosby routine "Riiiight!".

But the better bits come along here:

He also said that Satan is responsible for having blinded most secular humanists to the "dehumanising effects of contraception and abortion and IVF, of homosexual 'marriages', of human cloning and the vivisection of human embryos in scientific research." Extreme secular humanism, "atheist scientism", is comparable to "rational satanism" and these are leading Europe into a dangerous state of apostasy. "Only by a genuine personal decision for Christ and the Church can someone separate himself from it."


I can't even begin to parse how ridiculous that set of conclusions is. It's roughly equivalent to finding a car smashed into a brick wall and concluding that the brick wall leaped in front of the car causing the collision. I don't even want to think about the concept of 'rational satanism' - that's an oxymoron from the beginning, since 'satan' is a supernatural being to start with, and therefore beyond what most rationalists would accept as reasonable.

Fr. Davies also warns in his book against so-called New Age and occult practices, as well as trendy exercise and "spiritual healing" regimens derived from eastern religions.

"The thin end of the wedge (soft drugs, yoga for relaxation, horoscopes just for fun and so on) is more dangerous than the thick end because it is more deceptive - an evil spirit tries to make his entry as unobtrusively as possible."

"Beware of any claim to mediate beneficial energies (eg. reiki), any courses that promise the peace that Christ promises (eg. enneagrams), any alternative therapy with its roots in eastern religion (e.g. acupuncture)." Needless to say, overtly occult activities such as séances and witchcraft are "direct invitations to the Devil which he readily accepts."


Right Father. I'll keep that in mind while I'm doing my yoga routine this afternoon, and when I next go for acupuncture to alleviate the pain of several joint injuries, I'll be thinking about how much evil I am exposing myself to.

I cannot believe these people. Do they really think that their bogeyman stories are that persuasive? Jeepers. I do yoga because it's good for me physically, and the meditative aspect of it is nothing more than a way to clear my mind. Get over it.

Their gross misrepresentation of Secular Humanism is little more than a pathetic attempt to reassert the control of the church over people by fostering fear and ignorance.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yoiks! I've never really been sure if there's a distinction between religion and superstition, but certainly with some people it's very hard to tell the difference.

Anonymous said...

There should be a distinction between religion and hatred, but sometimes it is hard to tell the difference as well.

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