Men in silly hats

Over the past few weeks, we in the Land Down Under have been visited by someone in a very silly hat.  He arrived on his very own aircraft, surrounded by many others in not quite so silly hats.

Before he arrived, many of his followers had all the homeless, desperate, street people in Sydney rounded up and hidden away so they would not burden the man in the silly hat with requests of generosity, understanding, empathy, or love.  This seems rather strange given the supposed core beliefs of this man, which largely entail being kind to each other and helping those most in need.

Of course, it is possible that the government of the day (purporting to be secular in nature, but holding deep seated ties to the Jewish/Christian values (whatever that means)) secluded these riff raff so they themselves where not embarrassed at their own lack of support for these individuals. (Question 15 http://culturematters.wordpress.com/2007/05/30/australian-citizenship-test/)

Men in silly hats obviously need more protection from offence than ordinary members of the public, for the New South Wales government passed laws making it illegal to offend him, his administration, or the hordes of followers about to descend on our sun drenched shores.  Why this should be the case is unclear, but men of faith do not need evidence to act, only reasons.

The stupidity of these laws was highlighted when some of the silly hat followers desecrated an Australian war memorial with the words “Ratzinger Rules!”.  This, of course, is highly offensive to many Australians who hold the legend of the ANZAC diggers in high regard.  Of course, there were no special laws to protect ordinary Australians from these kinds of offences, but why should there be? (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24022463-1702,00.html?from=public_rss)

A civil liberties group labelled the laws “unnecessary and repugnant” and in a show of common sense a judge overturned the law against offending pilgrims, stating “That can’t have been the intention of Parliament”. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7506716.stm)

Meanwhile, the Vatican states is regret over the Anglican’s decision to allow women bishops, saying that it represents a “new obstacle” to reconciliation between the Holy See and the Anglican community. (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/08/2298212.htm)

This is strange because the Pope’s message was one of “Christian co-operation”, calling for leaders of the church to work together to continue promoting shared values.  It seems the quantity of shared values between denominations (to say nothing of religions themselves) are eroding every day.   (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24039273-1702,00.html?from=public_rss)

Speaking of reconciliation, the Pope also repeated an apology given by his predecessor for the injustices carried out by Catholic Missionaries against indigenous people.  It seems all he does is fly around apologising for the actions of his organisation.  Perhaps that’s why they call them apologists? (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7506716.stm)

Mind you, the Pope is not always looking backward to the past.  He is a young, hip, “with it” kinda guy.  He’s up with all the latest techo-wizardary.  To demonstrate this, the send pilgrams SMS messages and erected four giant digital prayer walls at the Sydney Opera House, the Domain, Darling Harbour, and Randwick Racecourse.  If you were keen you could subscribe to daily “holy text message” by sending the word “Pope” to 0400 405 111. (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24022195-1702,00.html?from=public_rss)

But we should know better than to give in to these desires as the Pope later revealed that popular culture and consumerism squandered natural resources, making them inherently evil. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7510862.stm).  Then promptly takes a harbour cruise on a 63 metre boat to celebrate, later making his way to the concert mass by helicopter. (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24034632-1702,00.html?from=public_rss) (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/20/2308733.htm)

The Pope’s Australian representative (Cardinal George Pell) urged western countries to “produce more babies to keep the population stable”, but organisers of World Youth Day are not keen on sexuality and requested pilgrims to wear swimsuits while showering as no curtains had been supplied for the showers.

NSW MP Kristina Keneally has been quoted as saying he went without a shower for nine days when attending a Catholic festival in Denver.  I am sure the stench of 350,000 unwashed pilgrims might be offensive.  Perhaps we should pass a law against that? (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/15/2303678.htm)

If Cardinal Pell was serious about increasing the population he could turn World Youth Day into a week long public orgy.  I am sure this may attract plenty of attention and possibly a few new converts to his religion.

In other news, it seems god was not happy with a few of the faithful – striking them down with flu-like illnesses. (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24023070-1702,00.html?from=public_rss).  Still, it could be worse, as Senior Constable Gary Hill discovered – unfortunately dying just days after being personally blessed by the Pontiff.  I hope it did him some sort of good.

On the whole, the event was mind boggling.  The euphemism of “World Youth Day” is just a barely adequate cover for the real purpose of the festivities.  Perhaps next time the church might try a little honesty and call it “World Catholic Week” or “World Membership Drive”.  The latter abbreviates nicely to WMD, which detracts could deem to mean “Weapons of Mass Delusion”.

The overt religiosity was certainly a sight to behold.  There were people chanting “Jesus, Jesus Jesus”, singing their songs, and reciting softly spoken magic spells in every quiet corner.  Still this was not enough for some Catholic hard-liners, who oppose modernisation of the church and condemned World Youth Day as an appalling display of secularism. (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/16/2304914.htm)

Perhaps their onto something?  While the Pope urges co-operation (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24039273-1702,00.html?from=public_rss) and the Archbishop of Canterbury invites Muslim leaders to religious meet (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/16/2305091.htm), both seem to ignore a central doctrine of Christianity.  Jesus said “No one gets to heaven except through me”.  This is NOT a viewpoint open to tolerance and understanding.  Follow Jesus, or spend eternity suffering in hell.

Perhaps the Pope is right – it’s time for the church to renew itself. (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24048087-1702,00.html?from=public_rss)