Pope in eco friendly non transgendered parade.Pope likens "saving" gays to saving the rainforest
Mon 22 Dec 2008, 13:48 GMT
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict said on Monday that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.
Mon 22 Dec 2008, 13:48 GMT
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict said on Monday that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.
"(The Church) should also protect man from the destruction of himself. A sort of ecology of man is needed," the pontiff said in a holiday address to the Curia, the Vatican's central administration.
"The tropical forests do deserve our protection. But man, as a creature, does not deserve any less."
The Catholic Church teaches that while homosexuality is not sinful, homosexual acts are. It opposes gay marriage and, in October, a leading Vatican official called homosexuality "a deviation, an irregularity, a wound".
The pope said humanity needed to "listen to the language of creation" to understand the intended roles of man and woman. He compared behaviour beyond traditional heterosexual relations as "a destruction of God's work".
He also defended the Church's right to "speak of human nature as man and woman, and ask that this order of creation be respected".
He turned his attention to those people who call themselves in Italian “gender” or “transgender” — a broad term that includes anyone who doesn’t identify entirely with their assigned sex and can include homosexuals, bisexuals, pansexuals and others.
“What’s often expressed and understood with the term ‘gender’, is summed up definitively in the self-emancipation of man from the created and the Creator … But in this way, he lives in opposition to truth, he lives in opposition to the Creator,” the pope said.
Here is the response from the International GLBT human rights commission:
“In a season in which the immorality of genocide, lawless governments, lust for money and power and the destabilization of the world’s economy are destroying the lives of hundreds of millions around the world, the Pope’s obsessive focus on gay, lesbian and trans people who simply seek the right to live and love is out of touch with what humanity needs right now from its religious leaders.”
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I have to ask as well, what does the Church think it's doing with this obsessive focus on GLBT humanity. This year alone Benedict has said gay rights represent the single biggest threat to civilization and now he is comparing gays with polluting human ecology and equating that with saving the rain forest.
What is really generating this over the top hyperbole? I still maintain it has everything to do with feminism and not the 'gay agenda'. It has to do with repopulating Europe and America with obedient Catholic families where the man serves as head of household and is tasked with bringing his child-wife and children to the throne of entrenched male power. This is sometimes referred to as 'bringing his family to Christ'.
I suspect we are going to see more of this strategy of defining a 'human ecology' coupled with green interests. It's designed primarily to convince younger generations, who truly are concerned with ecology, of the TRUTH of the one size fits all 'traditional' concepts of male/female complementarity. Benedict may run into some problems convincing our eco youth that overpopulating the planet with the 'products of procreative sex' is really eco friendly. I could make a case that God understood population density issues so well, that he created a class of people who would not contribute much to the problem. Just as he did in the animal kingdom.
In this sense, encouraging gay families does more to save the Rain Forest than encouraging unlimited family growth and therefor is far more in tune with God's Natural Law.
I have to admit I burst out laughing when I read his more specific notions on the transgendered. As he liturgically parades in lace trimmed skirts and yards of gold silk, who is really going to take that notion seriously.
Gender bending is prevalent in all the theology around the priesthood. It has to be if the theology really seeks to protect an all male priesthood while claiming this priesthood represents both the divine feminine and divine masculine. If human ecology is all about sexual complementarity then you have to have gender bending in the theology of priesthood in order to fill those requirements. We certainly do.
Make no mistake, gays are taking the brunt of the bashing, but it's really women who are the target. This Christmas I will spend time praying for the women of the world who are systematically being raped as a war strategy, forced into pregnancy, beaten by their husbands, stoned to death in the Islamic world, and dieing by the droves from AIDS and pregnancy related complications.
I will also be praying for their children who are too many times born into dismal circumstances not of their choosing, being used as cannon fodder in too many wars, traded as chattel on the sexual slave market, exploited as workers by corporations, and left to rot in orphanages when they aren't as 'cute as puppys'.
So are gays really the number one source of pollution in the ecology of humanity? I think not.
I will take my lump of Christmas coal from Benedict for what it's worth, and burn it on a consecrated altar in an effort to purify it, for that's exactly how lumps of coal becomes diamonds.
PS, I'll be taking the next two days off, and want to extend a truly holy and peaceful Christmas to all who read this blog. May peace, love, and joy enter all our hearts in this time of changing energy and upheaval. As the Archangel Michael says to me every time he's going to blow my mind, I offer you his words. "Be not afraid".
The following is a Christmas message from Cardinal Maida of Detroit. It really could have been inspired by Michael, who has a yet to be explained, strange interest in the city of Detroit. It's also much better than Benedict's offering. Namaste.
Christmas 2008 will undoubtedly be quite different for most of us. Given the economic uncertainty of the times and the fact that many have lost employment, and even their homes, we will be celebrating in a way that is more simple and modest. In fact, for many, there will probably be little reason for celebration and for some, perhaps no opportunity for celebration at all.
No matter what our circumstances, every one of us feels somewhat overshadowed by fear about things we cannot control. We wonder where the future will take us – individually, in our families, and as a society. Our metro area and the automobile industry are going through a time of major transition, causing every one of us to take a second look at who we are and what we do.
More than ever, we need to reflect on the hope-filled message of Christmas. Again and again in the Christmas Gospels, whenever an angel appears, consistently the message is the same: "Do not be afraid.…" Mary heard those consoling words at the Annunciation. Joseph heard those same words several times in St Matthew's account of Christ's birth.
Aged Zachariah was given the same advice as he and his wife, Elizabeth, were about to receive the surprising gift – and challenge – of the birth of a son, John the Baptist. As I mentioned at the outset of the column, the shepherds who first heard the Good News were also commissioned not to be afraid.
Fear is a natural human reaction; it is instinctive for humans to be afraid of the unknown or things that are unpredictable and unfamiliar. Every manifestation of God should make us feel a bit off-balance, overwhelmed by the surprising gift and mystery of God's presence and commitment to us in sending His own Son. We need the right kind of fear – "fear of the Lord," not fear of human forces. "Fear of the Lord" – one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit – means a loving respect for the wonder, majesty, and mystery of God – all powerful yet humbly very near to us.
As we grapple with fears within our hearts and fear around us, we need to be ever-more sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit trying to calm us from within, assuring us that not only will we survive but we will indeed grow closer to God as we give up any false pride or illusive desire for control. We need to set aside human fears and embrace fear of the Lord.
The Christmas story reminds us of the way God chose to show His abiding love for us – by sending His Son to dwell among us at a particular point in time and to a particular group of people. He came in such a hidden way that no one recognized His presence. The message of Good News was first proclaimed to shepherds, people who were social outcasts and, therefore, not acceptable or credible witnesses.
Yet the Lord entrusted to them the Good News and commissioned them to share it. Why did He pick shepherds? Possibly because shepherds had to be people of great courage, spending all night through every season guarding and protecting their flock from wild animals. Shepherds were attentive and patient, humble and strong – an excellent combination of traits, the same qualities we need in the midst of these challenging times.
The Christmas message has a very intimate and personal quality to it, but at the same time, the Christmas experience is a public and communal event, a manifestation for all to see, a mystery for all to encounter and share. We need to express our faith in public ways – participating in the Mass and the Sacraments, singing Christmas carols, putting our faith into action through visiting the sick and reaching out to the disadvantaged, proudly displaying our Christmas creche and so forth. As we do these things, however modest or simple, we are helping to proclaim a hope and a joy to our brothers and sisters in these times of darkness and anxiety.
interesting program last night on a science channel. Geneticists are studying identical twins...particularly ones that have different sexualities. They think that shortly after the differentiation is made between male or female, the brain is diffused with testosterone. Depending on how much is released and how much is absorbed may determine whether the child is heterosexual or homosexual. If this is so (and I believe sexuality is genetically determined whether or not this is exactly the way it happens) when will the church quit contending that homosexuality is a choice? Sadly the church often practices discrimination based on gender or sexuality. I truly believe the hierarchical church will never change....they would not change 1,000 years ago and the east/west split came, they would not change 500 years ago and the reformation happened, and they won't change now....I wonder what new shape the church will take in our time?
ReplyDeleteJust some added thoughts on listening to Nature to understand the roles of males and females. . .
ReplyDelete"In certain animal societies, sexual energy functions as a harmonizing influence. For example, animal studies have shown that at least 80% of the interactions between male giraffes are classified as “homosexual.” Giraffes are highly intelligent. They do not preemptively strike in pseudo self-defense, but they do protect themselves if directly threatened. Their hooves are heavy enough that, if attacked by a lion, they can seriously injure the lion by striking out. But they do not strike first; they are not violent creatures. The sexuality freely expressed between males in their species has the ultimate effect of lowering aggression.
And then there are the Bonobo monkeys. . . When the group gathers together, the female Bonobos have sex with each other, and then the community eats. The Bonobos are not violent creatures, unlike the more sexually regimented Common Chimpanzee. In Bonobo life, the expression of sexual energy between females harmonizes the larger group. The Common Chimpanzee and the Bonobos are humans’ closest relatives in the animal kingdom.
In human society, for thousands of years, we have documented our violent history to the point of people simply believing we are a violent species. We have split sexuality in half by making “heterosexuality” right and good and “homosexuality” wrong and bad. We have strictly encoded gender behavior to limit how men and women are allowed to express themselves. We elevate the male over the female to such an extent that to this day, in certain countries — and cultures, parents overwhelmingly choose to abort female children. Human men and women are thus heavily regimented, and violence is its own result in this intensive campaign against humanity and sexuality.
Surely there is an interesting connection between violence and sexual suppression. . . The more we suppress an important part of ourselves, the more violent we become because an outlet is needed (after all sexual expression is necessary for reproduction, one key driver of evolution).. . "
Whew! The more we procreate the more folks there will be to declare Holy War upon. . .Truly it is all upside down. . .UGH!
Colleen really appreciate your address on this subject. . .I will come back and read this one again. . .lots to take in here. .
Happy Christmas and hope you and yours are truly blessed with goodness and light dear soul. . .
my word is bliop. . .The words coming from the Pope here seem to be a bit of bloop coming from his lips. . .
marci
From Wikipedia
ReplyDeleteBLACK SWANS
An estimated one-quarter of all black swans pairings are homosexual and they steal nests, or form temporary threesomes with females to obtain eggs, driving away the female after she lays the eggs. More of their cygnets survive to adulthood than those of different-sex pairs possibly due to their superior ability to defend large portions of land.
Gulls
Studies have shown that 10 to 15 percent of female western gulls in some populations in the wild are lesbian.
Mallards
Mallards form male-female pairs only until the female lays eggs, at which time the male leaves the female. Mallards have rates of male-male sexual activity that are unusually high for birds, in some cases, as high as 19% of all pairs in a population.[24]
Penguins (some sweet humor in this one)
In early February 2004 the New York Times reported that a male pair of chinstrap penguins in the Central Park Zoo in New York City were partnered and even successfully hatched a female chick from an egg.. . . Other penguins in New York have also been reported to be forming same-sex pairs. . .
Zoos in Japan, China and Germany have also documented gay male penguin couples. The couples have been shown to build nests together and use a stone to replace an egg in the nest. In Polar Land in China, a gay penguin couple tried to steal the eggs of female penguins. After protest the zoo keepers gave the male couple the egg of an inexperienced mother. According to the zoo keepers, the male couple were the best parents out of any located in the zoo. Researchers at Rikkyo University in Tokyo found 20 gay pairs at 16 major aquariums and zoos in Japan. Bremerhaven Zoo in Germany attempted to break up the gay male couples by importing female penguins from Sweden and separating their male couples, but they were unsuccessful. The zoo director stated the relationships were too strong between the gay couples. German gay groups protested at this attempt to break up the male-male couple. . .
Okay, that was a bit about birds. . .for the sake of brevity i will just list some of the mammals. . .
listed on Wikipedia. .
Amazon River Dolphin. . .American Bison. . Bonobo and other Apes. . Bottlenose Dolphins. . .Elephants. . Japanese Macague. . Lion. . .Polecat. . Sheep. . Spotted Hyena. . .Dragon flies. . .Fruit flies. . .Lizards. . .
Ask any country kid raise in nature. . the expression of same sex behavior is common rather than exceptional. . .
Fallible?. . . I guess that does not include the understanding of Nature or biology?. . . .
Colleen, beautiful meditations, both yours and Maida's. Thanks for all you do on this blog to keep us informed and thinking. Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteGreat observatio mlou about the church not changing even in the face of major schism.
ReplyDeleteThe RCC is a fascinating structure when you really look at it. The longest lasting, purest form of male ascendancy. They managed this on the backs of women. First their mothers and then the religiosity of female Catholics. They are desparately trying to engender the same cultural values which allowed this male culture to continue unimpeded for almost 1700 years. I maintain there is not institution whose power structure is more threatened by emmancipated women than the RCC.
The whole gay thing is a not too subtle and deceptive excuse to teach the same ole, same ole, and blame on it on a different group.
This is why Catholicism is drawing like minded mysoginists and homophobes from the Baptist and Anglican congregations. Extending real rights to homosexuals would really undermine all notions of patriarchal gender complimentarity.
I seriously doubt anyone in the Vatican truly thinks homosexuality is a choice. The only choosing going on is their's to bash and restrict the rights of gays.
I also think the argumentation is getting absurd and the backlash is about to start. Women priests and gay marriage are just two faces of the same underlying issue--maintenance of male dominion.
Saving the ecology of this planet will neccessitate rebalancing the energy between the genders--no matter how they are expressed.
River, thanks for the bird and animal info. It reminds me of the time my dad paid some godawful sum of money for an Angus bull that turned out to be thoroughly uninterested in cows. You are quite right in your thinking that any child raised in the country is fully aware of the frequency of gay sex amongst animals.
ReplyDeleteThe neat thing about the male penguins is their parenting skills. JPI would fully understand that phenomenon and it's one of the reasons he argued so strongly for gay adoption.
But again, the gay bashing has nothing to do with observable natural law, and everything to do with the spirit of domination. The longer the churches keep this gay bashing up the more obvious this will all get.
Even true believers are being infected with the thought that gay marriage poses no threat to heterosexual marriage when placed beside the issue of hetersexual adultery and divorce. It's only a matter of time, and time is speeding up.
I really appreciated the observation about violence escalating in humans with the concretizing of sexual and gender roles. One of my Native mentors made that same observation about the escalation of violence in tribes. Accepting white sexual mores really screwed with the traditional understanding of the warrior and the true place of women with in the tribal structure.
White sexual mores also introduced homophobia into tribal cultures that had a totally different appreciation for the gifts of homosexuals and the mixed gender.
I used to think it was no accident that the priesthood had a much larger gay component than their actual numbers warranted, but given my mentors notions, this makes sense. Gay men also represent a conduit between this reality and other realities. Just like women.
A long those lines here's a true story. In this area there lived a very powerful medicine man who on passing over left all his medicines, his pipe, and his medicine bundle with his apprentice who is a gay man. He did this because he couldn't find an acceptable carrier amongst his own relatives. He told the gay man to carry his bundle and maintain his ceremonies until the gay man could identify a worthy relative. If that didn't happen he was to pass them onto another worthy carrier until a worthy relative appeared.
It was all about spiritual talent lived with integrity. Benedict could take a few lessons here. OOPS I keep forgetting. Our priesthood is not based on spiritual talent. It's based on ritual magic. :)
MERRY CHRISTMAS. . . .HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY and BRINGING IN THE NEW YEAR. . .
ReplyDelete(my word is polosil. . . i think it must be Nancy Polosi (?) sending you XMAS Greetings?. . .