Finally. Some consistency.

Special thanks to Brian at the Primordial Blog.

I'm going to go against the grain on this one. I support the church's position here, not because it's reasonable, but because at least it's internally consistent.

It's an interesting story about a Catholic priest refusing to marry a couple because there is no hope of conception. Here's the story in its entirety (it's short):

Impotent paraplegic told: no church wedding

June 9, 2008 - 3:52PM

An Italian bishop has reportedly told a young paraplegic he cannot have a church wedding because he is impotent, despite his fiancee being aware of the problem.

Salvatore de Ciuco, spokesman for Bishop Lorenzo Chiarinelli of Viterbo in central Italy, told SkyTG24 television: "No bishop, no priest can celebrate a wedding when he knows of admitted impotence as it is a motive for annulment" of the marriage.

The 26-year-old groom, who took part in a civil marriage ceremony on Saturday in Viterbo, has been paraplegic since he was involved in a car accident.

The curate of the parish who was banned from marrying the couple was present at the ceremony.

The favourite defense, by Catholics I know, of the church's stance on gay marriage is that the purpose of marriage is to procreate. "We're not bigots," say the faithful, "It's God's plan!" (I used a capital "G" because they would.) In other words, god's the bigot.

I point out that clearly that is not the case, as people who can't have children get married all the time. My mother-in-law got remarried, and she's not likely to have kids (menopause), so there you go.

And so finally, some bishop says what I've been saying all along. This guy, at least, is allowed to keep his homophobia.

Breaking News!

I like to keep an eye on the ultra-right, the neocons, and the bigots. For one thing, they amuse me; they're like super-villains in Marvel Comics, but without super powers, money or brains. They're evil, but not Evil. They hate the gays, the liberals, the women, the taxes and the media, but they're impotent and frightened.

On second thought, they're nothing like Marvel Villains. They're more like the little angry dog that freaks out as you walk by in front of their house.

Exposing myself to their ideas is like playing with that flap of skin you get on the roof of your mouth after you burn it with pizza or from eating Cap'n Crunch. You probe at it with your tongue, because it hurts a little bit, but the sensation is fascinating. Don't lie. You do it, too.

So I subscribe to a few of the more choice email bulletins, and one actual paper magazine, and I read their columns in the Sun. The Philadelphia Trumpet is delivered to my home free of charge, and thanks to this wonderful publication, I have learned that climate change is not man's fault, that in fact the earth is cooling, and there's nothing we can do about, because the Bible says something somewhere that contradicts the evidence. Further, China is on the rise, not because they hold all of America's debt, still have a manufacturing economy and a few resources to spare, but because Revelation says something about it. Because clearly John the Divine knew a great deal about the Chinese. Also, Karl Marx is the devil.

I also get regular email updates from Worldview Weekend, which reminds me often that the gays are bad. Their motto is, "Think and live like a Christian", which judging by the commentary they feed me, really means "Think like we tell you, and live like the gays are on the march, and will anally rape you and your children." They also keep trying to sell me stuff with will help me become more judgemental. Hate is a hell of an industry, apparently.

I got a special update from them today. It was "Breaking News!". Three guesses what it was about.

Got it in one!

Breaking News: This could happen to your child or grandchild. Brannon Howse takes on Barnes and Noble for what they allowed to happen to his minor son.

What happened? Wet floor? Collapsing bookshelves? Mein Kampf? Comic books?

On June 5th, my eleven year old son joined me in a visit to our local Barnes and Noble Bookstore in Collierville, TN. I was horrified at what my son saw. Open on
a table was a very large, full-color, picture book displaying a man in full frontal nudity. The cover was two men kissing with the title GAY SEX.

OMG! Penises! And other penises! And maybe the penises are touching!

Note that he's only horrified that his son saw it. Did maybe Howse like the penises? Not likely! He's a conservative! Probably votes Republican. No gays here...

The assistant manager told me that this was the second time that night this book had been laid open in the store.

Ever seen So I Married and Axe Murderer? Remember the scene when Charlie is making fun of his mother for reading The Weekly World News, and makes that fake screaming sound by inhaling? Imagine I'm making that sound right now. Clearly, the gays are everywhere, leaving their dirty gay spoor about, to entice unsuspecting eleven-year-old Christians into the "gay lifestyle".

She also informed me that such books were regularly found in the men's room.

That's kinda gross. Not because gay men might be committing the sin of Onan in the john, but because they might get some on the book, and then that book is reshelved...

Also, masturbating in public restrooms is a bit queer, if you'll pardon the pun.

She said a young boy had been sexually assaulted in the bathroom at this store and the man was never caught.

Which, admittedly is a problem, but has nothing to do with gay men liking to look at naked men, and jerking off in a washroom stall. However, the two are equated, because obviously, most pedophiles are gay, and most homosexuals are pedophiles. Gay people are bad.

The assistant manger walked me to where the book was normally kept. Was it behind a counter? No, it was on the top shelf of a bookcase that any 13 year old
could reach.

Not only could any 13-year-old reach it, but a tallish 12-year-old might be able to, if he stood up on his tiptoes! And not just gay 12-year-olds, straight ones, too! You also have to wonder why Howse asked to see the "GAY SEX" section of the bookstore.

Welcome to the 21st Century where being gay is mainstream and celebrated as
normal in a family bookstore.

Allow me to submit that being gay is relatively mainstream, is relatively normal, and this attitude should penetrate to bookstores. You see, the problem is that you were in a bookstore, Mr. Howse. There are often books there. Books are useful for facilitating an exchange of ideas. A liberal exchange of ideas. Bookstores, in many ways, are antithetical to the idea of censorship, and books are sometimes supposed to make you uncomfortable.

Listen to my national radio program to find out what I am going to do.

What ARE you going to do? He spoils the surprise by telling us:

Collierville, TN does not have an ordinance that requires this type of material to be behind a counter out of reach of children or moved into a restricted area that requires a person to be 18 or older to enter. This is one more example of where elected officials have the opportunity to implement public policy that protects the innocence of our children as well as accounts for their physical safety. You can bet I will be working for such a city ordinance as well as working to make sure state law 39-17-911 is enforced and there is a penalty for robbing my son's innocence.

I am working with the American Family Association to have an e-mail go to 3
million people calling for a boycott of Barnes and Nobel until they put this garbage behind a counter or in a restricted area where children can not see it or have access to it.

The STRAIGHT SEX books, however, can remain on the shelves where they belong.

Welcome to the 21st Century where homosexuality is now mainstreamed into a family bookstore.

You said that already.

The chances are greater in some states that I would get charged with a hate-crime for speaking out about this rather than the store being fined.

Probably, but not in Tennessee, where men are men and fags are nervous.

A code enforcer where I live in Collierville, TN woke up my friend that other day to tell him his for sale sign was 11 feet, not 12 feet, from the curb. He had just returned from driving all night long from Houston from a doctor's appointment. He is recovering from cancer. The code enforcers have made companies move a shrub a few feet to match their original landscape plan. Yet, no town code for a store to keep porn from a child. Thus, I have to run to an official in the county for help instead of in my own town where I live.

'Scuse me? If there's no code, how is this relevant? Stay focused, Howse. GAY SEX, remember? And isn't your town in the county? Just how far would you have to go to get there?

We don't have time for you to struggle with it. The answer is: not very far at all.

Think the elected officials in my town are straining at gnats and swallowing camels?

Can someone explain that to me?

I bet during an election year they will all be Mr. Pro-family now and they will be looking for that press coverage as the town hero by offering up an ordinance. Real sincere....thanks guys for being asleep at the switch. This is the same story repeated a thousands times throughout America.

All across America, every day, GAY SEX books are left out in the open, and good, 11-year-old Christian boys see them...

Won't somebody please think of the children?

My family includes a gay man (and his fiancé, so two, I guess). That means to me your stance is, in fact, ANTI-family.

However, Howse is right in pointing out that politicians always seem to be chasing that elusive homophobe vote, in the US, and here in Canada, too. Besides, what do you care if they're sincere or not, provided you get what you want?

Incidentally, I couldn't find Tennessee State Law 39-17-911, but title 39, Ch. 17 deals with child curfew.

Tits

... for tats. Get your mind out of the gutter.

However, it just occurred to me that tit for tat could mean that a woman was offering her breast for inking.

One of the more annoying things that I hear from otherwise intelligent theists (aside from when I hear it from the stupid and credulous) is that as an atheist, I am somehow less moral than they. "How can you tell", they ask, often gasping a little, "what's right and wrong without god?"

Except that they'd capitalize god, and if they were Jewish, they'd even do something cool like G_d, or YHWH. And of course, Arabs would not only say Allah and capitalize it, but then they'd say something obsequious like : "Peace be upon him," or "Allahu ackbar". I'm certain my spelling is wrong on that second one, but I think I'm going to leave it so that any men of a certain age will be fondly reminded of the assault on the Death Star.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, forget it.

To return to the point at hand, however, let me say this. Don't be a fucking idiot!

No, I don't say that. Especially since these people who ask me this question, all wide-eyed and breathless, are friends of mine.

But, really, it's a valid point. Don't be a fucking idiot. Here's the thing. I was raised Baptist, and here's what I was taught:

1. I am a sinner, and bound for hell.


2. You are a sinner and bound for hell.


3. Gay people are really bad, and really bound for hell.


4. Gay sex is wrong.


5. Swearing is wrong.


6. Much of pop culture is wrong.


7. The devil is always waiting for me to fuck up. The prize of my soul is a really big deal to Satan.

Conversely, god seems to have a live and let live philosophy. We're all sinners, and he killed a guy (and himself at the same time, which I never questioned too closely) so that I didn't have to go to hell if I was scared and/or smart. I got the impression that he preferred scared. So here's the deal. You are going to hell. That's all there is to it. God'll be a little sad if you do, but he's not going to interfere. He did that once already, and it went very badly. Some guy got nailed to a tree, and then some asshole started a letter campaign to start a church. So that's it. That's the offer. Apologise, and be sorry, and admit that you're evil, and you don't deserve mercy, and you'll get it.

I admit that my religious upbringing may have been a bit twisted, or I am.

Anyway, to return to the list, there's nary a moral commandment among them, except about swearing and gay sex. I don't normally have much gay sex, being straight and all, so I seem to make up for it by cussing.

There were rules of course, though only a couple seemed to be actual moral precepts: don't kill, don't steal. The rest tend to be about god or getting inside your head, which I think is a pretty good way to fuck with people.

And I was taught that no matter how bad you are, if you ask for forgiveness, you still get to go to heaven. There's a good Chick tract about a cop and a criminal, and how the criminal repents and goes to heaven, and the cop goes to hell.

So there was my moral teaching. If I'm sorry for my evil, then it's okay. In retrospect, it's kinda fucked up.

Of course there are other rules, but many of them are irrelevant: plowing with both an ox and an ass, and wearing mixed fibres. And turning the other cheek is usually not a good idea, either. Seriously, look where it got Jesus.

But there is a moral foundation that predates Jesus, and probably YHWH, and whomever else. Probably not the ancient ones that Lovecraft warned us about. But Cthulu probably wasn't big on the Golden Rule anyway:

Do unto others as you'd have done unto you.

What does it mean? Put dismissively, as it was by a theist I call a friend, "Whatever you want, that's morality?" I guess, yeah.

I don't want to be killed, so I don't kill people. I don't want to be stolen from, so I don't steal. I support freedom of speech and assembly and religion and all that other shit because I want those freedoms, too. Empathy is the basis of my morality, and god has nothing to do with it.

In fact, the god I learned about was decidedly a- or anti- or immoral. He was a bigot, a mass murderer, he supported incest and rape, war and genocide, committed genocide once or twice, killed himself, condemned everyone because two people made a mistake, engineered it so some people couldn't help but be damned, and then calls himself merciful, so he's a liar, to boot.

People kill other people because of religion. People discriminate because of religion. People hate because of religion. They steal in the name of religion, and occasionally for religion. They rape in the name of religion. They are pedophiles and back it up with religion. Apparently, morality has nothing to do with religion.

So why are people concerned that I'm amoral and evil? Because I have no god? It's a tired argument, but religion is hardly a fair indicator of a person's moral position. I, however, have an iron standard of morality. I empathise. I don't want to be judged harshly. I don't want to be abused. I don't want my loved ones to suffer. And because of empathy, I want the same for other people.

God's an asshole, and he has nothing to do with it.