I
(Protests at Downing Street, London, from BCC News)
(Protests at Twickenham, from Richmond. Twickenham Times) -
It
was reported in the BBC that the Papal has drawn a large protest of at
least 20,000 at Downing Street, London, protesting against the Catholic
church.
The movement "Protest The Pope" is strongly vocal against the Pope
Benedict XVI for
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"opposing the
distribution of condoms and so increasing large families in poor
countries and the spread of Aids"
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"promoting segregated education"
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"denying abortion to even the most vulnerable women"
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"opposing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender rights,
including universal decriminalisation of homosexuality"
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"failing to address the many cases of abuse of children within
its own organisation"
"Like a lot of people I am a perplexed that it is a state visit. "The
Pope's opposition to condoms kills people. It is all very well him
lecturing us on morals but he should look at his own organisation's
view."
said comedian Al Murray
"He's been met with the most utter, exquisite, grovelling politeness and
with that somehow we are in an uncivilised third world country. "What is
civilised about demeaning the women, demonising homosexuals, wishing
that IVF children had never been born?... our only crime has been
silence."
said Human Rights Lawyer, Geoffrey Robertson
The protests it was said was against the critical views of the Pope
but not against Catholics or the church. However, the Pope is the
Catholic Church. The protests are unfairly critical of a man who cannot
change what the Church have been doing for 1500 years, and who sees
himself as a guardian of these orthordox beliefs even though they are
not biblical Christianity.
“a few fragments of human bones found
under the Basilica of St. Peter are the authentic mortal remains of the
Apostle”. Pope Paul VI, 1968.
The Catholic Faith is built upon a sincere motivation to retain
pride, control, power and wealth – their heaven on earth. They went to
the extent of recreating history by claiming that Peter was the first
pope, not because Peter was ever a leader of the Catholic Church but
that he was supposed to have the keys to heaven. But the Catholic Church
had to, in order to substantiate their claim to power. The truth was
that Peter was the leader to the Jewish Church whilst it was Paul who
ventured beyond Judea and was the Apostle to the Gentile world.
Therefore, such is their eagerness for power that they would not mind
not only adding to the bible, but fundamentality changing it. When there
was a power struggle with the Eastern Church at Constantinople, the
Roman Church went to the extent of redirecting the crusades to attack
Constantinople, hence weakening the power of that city and later
ushering in the fall of Asia Minor or Turkey to the Moors. Hence, none
of the bible cities in Asia Minor are Christian today.
There is a unique simplicity of the Gospel Message being a direct
relationship between the common man and God without intermediaries, and
by faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. That means, the church and
its massive hierarchy and structures were not required and people would
not be controlled tightly in a structured framework. A religious
framework was created to keep people in their proper place, so that the
church would have absolute control and power. At the top was no longer
Jesus. Mary was now the co-redeemer. Next, was the Pope, or Pontifus
Maximus, the bridgehead between man and God, the same title used by the
Roman Emperors whom were considered human gods. A human notion of
inherited power was instituted where by the authority was handed from
Jesus, to Peter, and then to the long line of Popes.
Therefore the individual relationship with God is taken away from
the very top. We now pray to Mary who will intercede for us (Catechism
of the Catholic Church, 973), via the Pope who has the authority as if
he was god on earth. What the Pope said must be right, since he is
infallible and a god. The entire religious framework was to prevent
people going directly to God, to be empowered by faith to have a
relationship with God. The next layer of authority is the Priests. As
much power lies in the Pope and the Priests, in order to ensure full
allegiance to the church, they are not allowed to marry. Hence, the
power and wealth could not be handed down to the descendents but
remained in the church to perpetuate its power. That was the main
problem of the Roman Emperors where their children always fight for
power many times weakening the empire.
The next layer is man with the link between the next layer – the
priest – being through confession. Therefore, instead of a relationship
with God resulting in communion and fellowship where we share our
failures, we have to go through the priests. The man could not read the
bible, as it was the priests who will read and rightly interpret it. The
last layer is woman and the link to man is through marriage. Therefore,
in a relationship, the man always have the rights and leadership role.
The notion of woman priests is an absolute “no” as they are not supposed
to rule over the man.
So how does Gays undermine the Catholic Church? The system is a
“perfect” religious framework and has worked very well for the last 1500
years. However, Gays have the small potential to wreck this and the
catholic church is concerned, always paranoid at the small possibility.
For marriage is what links the man to the woman. If gays are allowed to
marry, then who is the man and who is the woman? . The structure would
be undermined. In reality with the very small number of gays, this would
never be an issue except for a paranoid church and this paranoia helped
them to remain in power for 1500 years, longer than any dynasty on
earth. Gay marriages and Women Rights are in the same basket for the
Catholic Church, not to be opened lest control is lost. The Catholic
Faith is a religious system that can keep people in deep bondage, and
separation of God without them ever knowing it. The Gay Marriages and
Women Priests have the potential to impact this system.
So why doesn't the Anglican Global South issue statements against
the Pope for their non-blibical teachings even though he is considered
part of the Christian Communion, because the Pope controls 1 billion
supporters whilst gays are weak and easy to be blamed and a scapegoat
for all the social ills, immorality, and poverty.
(Zec 7:9 NKJV) "Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'Execute true justice,
Show mercy and compassion Everyone to his brother.
(Zec 7:10 NKJV) Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, The alien or
the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart Against his brother.'
When the bible talks about showing justice, it is not talking about
administering the Jewish Law strictly as the Pharisees would have done,
it is referring to the injustices suffered by the outcasts and often the
gross partiality shown in judgement favouring the rich, the powerful,
and the majority. For example, the 377A supported by the church in
Singapore to put gays in prisons was totally unjust and inconsistent.
Executing justice and showing mercy and compassion comes together for we
often forget the context of the laws and why they were created. For
example, the laws in Leviticus was a reaction to the idol worship and
religious acts to honour the fertility god, Baal. It was not about same
sex relationships of a very small minority but these transgression were
carried out by the majority in the name of worshiping idols. Blaiming
the gay minority using the bible totally in the opposite context, is not
showing true justice.
The bible calls us to execute true justice, for just as the case of the
Pope, there would be little criticism from the Christian Right in UK or
Singapore because he is simply too rich and powerful. The Church must be
consistent and impartial in its interpretation of the bible for it to be
considered righteous before God and Man.
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