Friday, April 25, 2008

Baby Wants Someone Else in the Pope's Red Shoes

Star light, star bright...
Sometimes I run across a sentence that I wish I had written myself. My current favorite comes from the article by Katha Pollitt, Men of the Cloth. She concludes her piece with the following:
FLDS men have many wives and the Pope has none, which goes to show there's more than one way to keep women pregnant and in their place.
Three cheers, Katha, for pointing out the irony of the massive media coverage that YFZ (Yearning for Zion? Seriously? If that doesn't have the ring of a cult I don't know what does!) has received while very little outrage, beyond the priest scandal, has been leveled at the Roman Catholic Church during the Pope's recent visit. Instead, we got to see a baseball stadium filled with people waiting to kiss the ring of a man in red shoes who is perfectly content to keep women barefoot and pregnant.

Pollitt points to a few examples of the Pope's master plan to maintain women in subservience. One such success is the recent defeat of Chile's plan for contraception access in public clinics. Kudos to those in Chile planning to renounce the Roman Catholic Church over this. What other way is there to enact change in the Church? The sad thing is, there are hundreds more who blindly follow the "faith" regardless of the consequences.

Maus will commence to sad head shaking now.

6 comments:

habladora said...

Hey, Maus - welcome back from Vegas!

I'm not sure I agree entirely with all of your points, but I do think that the Pope's decision to continue to oppose contraception creates huge problems for women worldwide. It is really irresponsible. Yet, I'm not sure I'd compare it with forcing young girls into 'marriages' where they are raped. In the case of Catholics, people can choose to disobey. In the Texas cult case, these children were trapped.

Oh - and I had no idea that the Pope wore red shoes. If he taps them together, is he instantly transported to Kansas?

Mächtige Maus said...

Certainly Catholicism is not on par with cult-like enslavement of women. I do find that both utilize religion in an inappropriate, insanely controlling fashion. It's why I, personally, have a huge issue with organized religion. I understand faith. I don't understand blind following of preachings and teachings all in the name of religion, cult form or otherwise.

Hee hee...transport the Pope to Kansas with a click of the red shoes. Now *that* would be some show.

Agincourt said...

Maus comes from a long line of Lutherans, what do you expect? ;-)

Speaking of Luther, I am in the midst Medieval to Renaissance history book. Did you know that Luther had most of his epiphanies on the toilet?? Hmm.

habladora said...

The dictates of the Pope also impact millions of people; so women, gays and lesbians, and scientists world-wide all have legitimate bones to pick with him.

As for Luther, everybody poops (as you might have read) - so you might as well multi-task. How were they able to uncover that bit of historical trivia, btw?

Agincourt said...

Well, Luther was blunt. And he was blunt about the fact that he spent a great deal of time in the privy, or 'sewer'. Hours of solitary contemplation, if you will.

One of his more eye catching quotes translates as: "I am fed up with the world, and it with me. I am like a ripe stool, and the world is like a gigantic anus, and so we're about to let go of each other."

Apparently, scholars were quite excited to find his 'happy place', as you can see here.

Personally, I do my best thinking in the shower...

habladora said...

Hummm - that was both informative and disgusting. Happy poetry month, ya'll!