Would you buy a used Fiat from this man?
Well,
Pope Francis has come and gone. He was
greeted like a rock star during his Washington, New York, Philadelphia tour –
while journalists who should know better suspended judgment. Thankfully, the Pope’s presence here pushed
coverage of the Presidential race off the front page – our election cycles are
ridiculously lengthy. Par for the course
with this Pope, he seemed to be all things to all people. As a parting gift of sorts, the Vatican
confirmed he met with Kentucky based, four times married, thrice divorced, lunatic/clerk
Kim Davis. Atypically, the meeting was
held in secret and only grudgingly confirmed by the Vatican after Davis went
public with the information. It’s almost
as if the Vatican knew the meeting would be an embarrassment.
Before
I’m accused of being an anti-Catholic bigot, allow me to offer a disclosure: I
was raised Methodist, and have family members who run the gamut from Catholic
to Seventh-Day Adventist. I’ve attended
Catholic Mass and admired the beauty of their services, particularly those
offered in Latin. I’ve also visited
non-Christian places of worship. But I’ve
long had a skeptical nature and now consider myself to be agnostic leaning
toward atheist.
I
can't say I'm disappointed in the Pope for meeting with Kim Davis, because I
was never really expecting anything different. Perhaps it’s because I worked so many years as
a salesmen; but I’ve long been suspicious of deflection and phony humility. Sure, Francis rides around in cheap cars, has
a friendly demeanor, and he's said some worthy things about the environment and
the dangers of unrestrained capitalism (although he’s never acknowledged how the
Church’s billions of dollars in art, precious metals, and real estate holdings
could be put to good use for the poor). Pope
Francis’ comments have been flamed by America’s right-wing, while the left-wing
has gone into raptures of adoration. His
"who am I to judge?" comment, hopefully clung to by religious gays since
early in his papacy, was in response to a hypothetical question about celibate
gay priests. Pope Francis’ recent
statement that "God weeps" about child molestation carried out by Catholic priests changes nothing about the Church's response - they continue to
regard it as an internal Church matter rather than something to be addressed by
legal authorities.
It’s
time for Catholics and non-Catholics alike to face the truth – after all, it’s
said the Truth will set you free: There's not much substantively different in
Pope Francis than his two predecessors, the vastly overrated John Paul II and
truly malevolent Benedict XVI.
Religion
is snake oil, whether that religion calls itself Catholic, Protestant, Islam, Jewish,
Hindu – or any other name. Religion has
caused more wars, oppression, and suffering for humanity - for more millennia -
than any other force. The advance of
Christianity led to the 1,000 year dark ages, and today radical Islam threatens
a new dark age. As an allegedly educated
people, Americans should know better. I
take heart in recent polls that indicate my fellow Americans are gradually
becoming more secular, with the caveat that it can’t happen quickly enough.
