My family, most of whom are devout Catholics are constantly raving about the poor Catholic Church, and oh how persecuted it is, and Jesus said this would happen, but that no matter what, the Church would never be destroyed because its His One True Church and bla bla bla ect ect.
I hear this tripe EVERY TIME somebody talks about the Da Vinci Code, and I’m so bloody sick of it. My response, much to the dismay of my family is something like:
I know, stop making people feel guilty for doing things that nature intended them to do and don't go around saying your belief system is the only valid one, and maybe everybody will stop hating you. How bout that, Catholic Church?
Allow me to elaborate.
Nature designed (and subsequently intended) human beings to have sex, and lots of it. The Catholic religion asks its constituents to suppress this primal urge - not to prevent against over population, no sir. In fact the Catholic church prohibits the use of any kind of birth control other than “family planning.” It also teaches its peeps that the sole purpose for marriage is to have children, and lots of them - hell, if we cant convert em, we’ll breed em! So you're in love and you don’t want kids. Too bad. Don’t get married.
The Catholic church is losing people left and right, and none of em can seem to figure out why. Of all the Christian denominations not called Jehovah's Witnesses or The Church of Later-Day Saints, Catholicism is the most dogmatic. For every commandment, there’s a whole slew of subcommandments that fall under the category of mortal sin. And a mortal sin will send you straight to hell. If your ever so unfortunate as to have committed one, you must immediately stop what your doing and go directly to the nearest priest and ask to have your confession heard.
Got a little carried away watching Monica Bellucci get naked in Brotherhood of the Wolf. Had to go and relieve a little tension… that’s called masturbation kids, and it’s a sin. It’s a mortal sin in fact. Falls under the seventh commandment of “Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery.”
In fact every sex related incursion falls under this heading, and the repercussions are a fine mixture of guilt, shame and a one way ticket to hell. Hope that lotion doubles as a sunscreen!
So why does everybody rag on the Catholic Church you ask. I cant help but think people are sick to death of all the ridiculous rules that make less and less sense as we move into a more technological and informed world, (the rules I touched on are just the tip of the iceberg folks, it would take years to list em all) and that people are sick and tired of feeling guilty for things nature intended them to do. Like have crazy freaky premarital sex with yourself, a member of the opposite gender, or even a member of the same.
I would like to add, that I do not hate the Catholic church. I respect its traditions and I absolutely love the ritual of the Mass. What I cant stand, is the narrowminded view, that there is only ONE WAY to worship the divine. And the Catholic church is as guilty of this crime as any other monotheistic religion.