I find myself extremely annoyed by the shear gall and idiocy of the current events, given that recent and ridiculous outrage of the US Catholic Bishops over insurance companies having to treat birth control methods as any other commonly used prescription drug, like Viagra or CIALIS. No one is making Catholics use birth control by having it covered by insurance policies. If Catholics use contraception it is their choice.
The United States of America does not have a state religion. That is why we are all free to practice or not practice whatever religion we want. We have a secular government; we are not a Christian nation. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' need not be included in governmental decisions. Churches have a tax exempt status. According to the US tax code in order “to be tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, an organization must be organized and operated exclusively for exempt purposes set forth in section 501(c)(3), and none of its earnings may inure to any private shareholder or individual. In addition, it may not be an action organization, i.e., it may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates.”
The Catholic Bishops have overplayed their hand and are lucky I am not president. If I was president, I would ensure the Catholic Church and any other churches who try to influence the government of the USA, have their tax free status removed. Italy just changed their laws to tax the Vatican. We could use the tax revenue.
The Catholic Church is sex obsessed. There seem to be an unending amount of sex rules for Catholics.
- Sex is only supposed to take place within marriage.
- Sex is only for procreation.
- Homosexuality is wrong.
- Contraceptives are wrong.
- Abortion is wrong even in the case of life of the women.
- Masturbation is wrong because sex is for procreation.
- Priest and Nuns can’t marry so they can’t have sex.
I’m sure there are more rules but I don’t know them and I really don’t care to know them. Given the number of sex rules the Catholic Church has you would think that all Catholics would behave in a highly “moral” sexual way. However that is not the case. It does seem that there is no Catholic rule against raping children.
There are thousands of priests and bishops that have molested children and even more priests and bishops have covered up the crimes of their pedophile brethren. There are an undisclosed amount of Catholic Nuns who have been raped by priests. The current Pope, a former Hitler Youth, covered up many of the rape crimes in the late 20th and early 21st century in his role as cardinal.
If the males that run the Catholic Church were “moral men” they would have defrocked the pedophile priest, bishops and cardinals, turned the pedophiles over to the police, apologized to the molested children and their parents, offered to pay for counseling for the victims, informed all the parishioners about the problems and worked to make sure it never happened again. But that is not what the Catholic Church did. Instead, they moved the pedophiles so they could rape again, worked hard to bury all evidence of the crimes, and tried to convince the victims that being molested by someone you have been taught to trust and respect was not really a problem. And now they want to add in their 50 cents about how having insurance cover contraception is violating their religious freedom. What a crock of excrement! It is hard to imagine how with the public exposure of the sexual misdeeds of the Catholic Church, they now think they have the moral authority to tell anyone what to do with their bodies.
The Catholic Church has been corrupt from its inception and it is no less corrupt today. In the past catholic priests, bishops, cardinals and popes had wives, mistresses and children. Enforced celibacy is really a modern thing that clearly doesn’t work.
The best thing that Catholics can do is not use birth control if they don’t think it is right. However given the history of the Catholic Church you cannot expect the men of the church or their adherents to follow their unreasonable sex rules. They must impose the fantasy rules of their religion on everyone, even if you do not share their beliefs.
Let me be clear, birth control does not cause sex; Being a sexually mature human causes sex. Humans have been having sex since we have existed, even before the invention of the Catholic Church. Contraception prevents pregnancy. Woman and men don’t always want to have child after child just because they have the human need for sex. Humans have been looking for ways to prevent pregnancy since they understood where children come from. The need to prevent pregnancy is neither moral nor immoral it is just a fact of life.
Contraception and abortion were legal in the United States until 1873. The religious fanatic, Anthony Comstock, worked very hard to eliminate things that he perceived as obscene. With the support of the Catholic Church, The Comstock Act was enacted March 3, 1873. The law amended the Post Office Act and made it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, and/or lascivious" materials through the mail, including contraceptive devices and information. In addition to banning contraceptives, this act also banned the distribution of information on abortion for educational purposes. Contraception was a federal crime. It took 92 years to change the laws to allow contraception again.
Between 1873 and 1965 people still had sex for pleasure. Women and men wanted to have sex without the fear of pregnancy. During that time, married couples could be arrested for using birth control in the privacy of their own bedrooms, and subjected to a one-year prison sentence. Is that what we want as a society?
Women have always been problematic to the Catholic Church so they made up reasons not to educate women for centuries. Women are dangerous with their tempting breasts and vaginas and they should be suppressed. I really have no idea why any women would participate in this faith. The catholic religion is all about keep women down.
All of the republican primary candidates have come out against birth control. At this rate what is next, the return of the inquisition or witch trials? According to Rick Santorum “a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be”. I am not sure if Rick thinks there is actually a “sexual realm” or if he just means women and men enjoying sex. I’m not here to talk about Rick Santorum; he is insane and someone should get him some help.
The Catholic Church is extremely wealthy. The priests, bishops, cardinals and popes live in lavish accommodation and want for nothing. They eat well, travel, and have the best health care money can buy while there followers may not be able to buy enough food for their families. The Catholic Church has done nothing to relieve poverty among its adherents. It hoards the money it receives from its followers, its investments and properties and it is all tax free.
This incident with the birth control argument is the best argument for government provided heath-care there has ever been. Your employer or your church should have no say in what medications or medical treatments you receive. Your health care choices should be between you and your doctor, not your priest, minister or your religious zealot neighbor.
Why don’t religious people just adhere to their silly rules and leave those of us who don’t believe like them alone? If your religion says you can’t do this or that, you don’t actually need to change the laws for everyone so you can adhere to your faith. American do not all have the same beliefs. America is not a Theocracy and with a lot of luck we will never be one.
If you want to follow the dictates of a bunch of old men in robes, that is your choice. But for the rest of us who are not Catholic, they don’t get to decide for us.
I implore all women and men of reason to stand up and fight for our rights. Do no sit passively by and let zealots destroy America.
Ciao for now,
Fobbsie
P.S. Protestants: do not think you are off the hook for your religious zealotry. I’m coming for you later.
