what the secular society makes of the popes visit
Nailing the Pope’s lies
By Terry Sanderson
As expected, the fawning British media is giving the pope a very easy ride, despite a string of ridiculous and untrue claims in his speeches.
First off he declares himself “shocked” by the child abuse scandal, as though this is the first he has heard of it. The press swallow this little exaggeration whole. Ratzinger has known about the priestly abuse of children for thirty years, since he became Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith which oversees priestly discipline.
He demanded, in a letter to every bishop in the world, that all cases of priestly molestation of children should be reported not to the criminal authorities but to the Vatican directly, and all efforts must be made to keep it quiet.
Now he rewrites history to give the impression he knew nothing about it, even though several cases of cover up have been traced directly to his door and the press unquestioningly print this lie.
Then he launches an attack on ‘aggressive secularism’. Nowadays it seems secularism cannot be mentioned without a pejorative adjective being added. This neatly sidesteps the need to engage in any sort of debate about it.
But the British people have little to do with religion, they stay away from churches, they don’t heed church teachings and they gain great pleasure from slamming the door in the face of doorstepping preachers who try to tell them how to live their lives.
This independence of mind is something to celebrate. It demonstrates a healthy lack of respect for self-appointed “faith leaders” who want to mould us to their own image. The British people have embraced a secular way of life, and the country is all the better for it.
After all, wasn’t it Britain that was singled out for praise from the United Nations for its generous and timely response to the Pakistani floods last month? Were we not named as the people most willing to help? That’s how evil a secular outlook is. (By the way, what was the contribution of the Vatican “state” to this disaster relief fund?)
And then we have Ratzinger’s suggestion that the rise of atheism opens the door to the return of the Nazis. Only the Catholic Church can save us from such a fate.
Again, Ratzinger re-writes history. Look at this damning election poster from the era of the Third Reich and then tell me again that the Catholic Church will defend us from evil atheistic Nazis.
The fawning media has done this country a disservice. The BBC has tried to convince us that the papal trip has been a great success. But the truth is very different. Compare the two pictures below which say more than a thousand words or a dozen opinion polls can about the comprehensive rejection of religion that has taken place in Britain over the past 30 years.
http://www.secularism.org.uk/nailing...opes-lies.html