Catholics Must Resign

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"When Barack Obama didn't hear Reverend Wright say those awful things about America, he still should have rushed the stage, smite Reverend Wright with the cross, and left the church," Bill Maher has written in a recent posting. I "f there's anything the right wing can agree on, it's that. And that gays are going to hell, right after they suck them off in the airport bathroom.

"But it raises an obvious question, one that I haven't heard asked, which is strange because it's so obvious: If you leave a church when the head of the church says bad things about America, what do you do when your church hierarchy is caught up in a systematic and decades-long sex abuse scandal? And did I mention the people being sexually abused were children? Hundreds of them?

"How about when the head of that church, or Pope, associated with and promoted members of the clergy who not only facilitated the sexual abuse and rape of hundreds and hundreds of children, but engaged in a decades-long cover-up of those crimes?

"Reverend Wright associated with Farrakhan. The Pope works with Cardinal Law. Which is worse? Isn't it the man who shuffled 'priests' like Shanley and Geoghan and many others from parish to parish with the full knowledge of their crimes, and then claimed he had no idea?

"Yes, by Sean Hannity's own logic, Catholics like him, en masse, would be expected to abandon their church. Which shouldn't be a problem, because they worship Reagan anyway.

"COLMES: Then shouldn't John McCain say he doesn't support the views of a man who makes anti-Catholic statements? OBENSHAIN: He did, I believe. He said I'm not -- I don't agree with everything...ahhh. COLMES: And Obama says he does not support anti-Semitism, as expressed by Louis Farrakhan. HANNITY: Leave the church.

"Well, what about it, Sean? Shouldn't you leave your church? I mean, like, five years ago? And since you haven't, how do we know you're not also a secret child fucker? Again, just using your logic:

"HANNITY: ...What if he really deep down in his heart thinks like Pastor Wright? LUNTZ: It's not for anyone to answer that question. HANNITY: Well, is that dangerous for this country? I think that would be dangerous. That would mean we would have -- if he agreed with Wright, and I don't know that he does, but if he did, that would mean a racist and an anti-Semite would be president of the United States.

"Side note: Does it occur to anyone that, for the past five years, the nuts every politician has been busy distancing themselves from -- Reverend Wright, Reverend Falwell, Reverend Hagee, Reverend Haggard, Reverend Robertson -- are all, you know, reverends?

"Why don't we just go back to the days when politicians kept their religions to themselves? Wasn't that better?"

So when is Maher's and Larry Charles' anti-religion doc finally coming out? They showed a teaser last year at Cannes

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on March 28, 2008 at 11:47 AM

comment #1

Richardson says ...

I'm pretty sure the reason this "scandal" hasn't hurt Obama as much as people predicted/expected/hoped is that the vast majority of Americans around the country are used to hearing their priests/preachers/rabbis -- religious leaders -- saying things from the pulpit that they don't specifically agree with.

Not everybody who goes to church agrees when the priest says, "Gays are going to hell." (Not every priest would say this, either.)

The people who thought this story would hit big are all basing it around a flawed perception of religion -- the right-wing that everybody *should* be evangelical about their religion, and the left-wing that everybody who is religious is mindless and follows everything their priest says, even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff.

It just ain't that way. Most people in the country have had the experience of sitting in a church* and vigorously disagreeing with what is said from the pulpit* by the priest*; few people think Obama is hypocritical for feeling that and still having faith.

(The * is for words that are specific to one religion, but can be substituted as neccessary.)

Posted by Richardson at March 28, 2008 12:26 PM

comment #2

Mjs says ...

If there is a bigger douchebag on this planet than Sean Hannlty I've never heard of him. Oh, he gets plenty of competition from the other wingnuts on the right, but he takes the cake.

Posted by Mjs at March 28, 2008 12:27 PM

comment #3

Wrecktum says ...

The point is well taken. Hannity, a supporter of Giuliani's campaign, has never distanced himself from Monsignor Placa, an accused child molestor and Giuliani's personal priest. Hannity, in fact, is a former student of Placa and has defended him vociferously.

Posted by Wrecktum at March 28, 2008 12:38 PM

comment #4

tommysunshine says ...

Firstly, the John Hughes Spy piece was sensational. Can't wait until Wells's archive is up and running.

Re Catholicism, this is how it goes: a hefty proportion of the knockout filmmakers, like novelists and writers, are Roman Catholics.

Anybody who has no time for the Catholic Church has no time for Fellini, Hitchcock and Ford. Anti-Catholics pits themselves against not just the Pope but Benicio Del Toro, Sean Connery and James Woods. I wish them well.

Posted by tommysunshine at March 28, 2008 12:39 PM

comment #5

Edward says ...

Many of us who were raised Catholic have left the Church, because we don't agree with what the Pope says or what the Church tells us we must believe. Hell, I was even a seminarian for a year. I've done a 180, I don't even believe Jesus is the Son of God.

Posted by Edward at March 28, 2008 12:42 PM

comment #6

Meegosh says ...

A fraternity brother of mine in college used to say

Catholics are like Beta's (the most stereotypical, "frat boy", largest fraternity on campus)
There's a lot of them, so they think they're cool.

Posted by Meegosh at March 28, 2008 1:15 PM

comment #7

DarthCorleone says ...

Hannity is full of it, and I'm of the opinion that all organized religion is bunk. Plus, I think Obama's justification and explanation is perfectly reasonable within the context of our churchgoing society.

That said, I don't think the comparison is precisely analogous.

There are way too many "cafeteria Catholics" running around that pick and choose the dogma that suits them. Not every church is the same, not every congregation is the same, and not every congregation leader is the same, even if they fall under the banner of the same label. Thus, I do not think it's the same to compare giving up an entire strain of faith because you don't agree with a Pope whom you have never met that is thousands of miles away and giving up attending a particular church in your neighborhood for the sake of disagreeing with a pastor that you see every single Sunday.

But, as I said, I think Obama is justified in this case.

Posted by DarthCorleone at March 28, 2008 1:16 PM

comment #8

Arizona Joe says ...

In a subtle way, I think the Obama speech did do a lot to defuse the controversy surrounding his pastor. I think the analogy to his white grandmother was effective. Were the things the reverend said mendacious, stupid and racist? Yes. Did his grandmother do some things with racist shadings? I guess she did. Have I myself uttered some racist but private things. Yes. Hence, the Obama speech hit home with me.

However, it is surprising to me that Barak would stay so close to the guy for so long. I mean, he must have known a long time ago that very public, big time politics were on the horizon. He should have been more circumspect.

The Roman Catholic church has been demeaned and derogated, to say the least, by their own doing and denial.

As Tommy Sunshine said, there does seem to be a correlation with great artists and the rituals of the Catholic church.

Sean Hannity is neither an artist nor a journalist. He's a biased idiot.

Yes, I too have disagreed with what a Catholic priest or a bishop or the Pope has said. But if I ever get my Catholic screenplay finished, it will illustrate what Catholicism really is, to people of other faiths also, and appeal to even Bill Maher.

Posted by Arizona Joe at March 28, 2008 1:36 PM

comment #9

mutinyco says ...

There also seem to be quite a few first-rate Brews making films as well: Kubrick, Spielberg, Allen, Coens, Cronenberg...

Posted by mutinyco at March 28, 2008 1:43 PM

comment #10

christian says ...

I'm glad Hannity has been going ballistic on Wright as it brings out the right-wing bigoted religious worms that he has never disavowed. And Hannity is feeling the heat. Look for him to back off this issue sooner than later.

And boy, if there was ever an example of a human unhampered by evolution, it is Sean Hannity.

Posted by christian at March 28, 2008 1:49 PM

comment #11

rocco says ...

Catholics think they're cool? Huh? Where I come from Catholics tend to be the most humble and private when it comes to religion. The RC Church is also one of the most progressive amongst the religious organizations in accepting science...It's a religion based on faith and the teachings of Christ, not aprocyphal stories of creation and flooding. There are many things wrong with the Church bureacracy (as with any hierarchical organization), but please don't lump the Catholic church in with the dogmatic bible literalists who prey on and perpetuate ignorance. I'm a lapsed catholic, haven't been to church in years, just sharing my experience/perspective.

But then I guess perception is reality...to me, the only distinction between one frat boy and another is to which degree they are douchebags, and yet here we see frat boys condescend amongst each other, so I guess we're all colored by our experience and ignorance.

Posted by rocco at March 28, 2008 1:54 PM

comment #12

Meegosh says ...

I believe my friend was referring to his opinion that many Catholics think they are better than you if you are not a Catholic as well. Obviously this wouldn't be true of all of them and you could probably make that point of many religions but Catholics are the ones he chose to attack with it and found it funny. Seemed like a good place to bring it up. As far as all all frat boys being douchebags here are a few that some people might not agree with you about
Rutherford B. Hayes
James Garfield
Chester Arthur
Benjamin Harrison
Theodore Roosevelt
William Howard Taft
Woodrow Wilson
Calvin Coolidge
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Harry S. Truman
Dwight D. Eisenhower
John F. Kennedy
Gerald R. Ford
Ronald Reagan
George H. W. Bush