Pope: Sex education attack on religion

Source: news24

Vatican City - Sexual and civic education in schools in Europe is an "attack" on religious freedom, Pope Benedict XVI said on Monday in a traditional annual address to foreign diplomats to the Vatican.

"I cannot remain silent about another attack on the religious freedom of families in certain European countries which mandate obligatory participation in courses of sexual or civic education," the pope told the ambassadors.

He said such courses "convey a neutral concept of the person and of life, yet in fact reflect an anthropology opposed to faith and to right reason".

Benedict said this was an example of the "threats" against "the cultural roots which nourish the profound identity and social cohesion of many nations".

Read more: http://www.news24.com/World/News/Pope-Sex-education-attack-on-religion-20110110

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hehe, guys - i'm laughing out loud.
when you think the catholic church is about to do that next step it suddenly takes 2 steps back!
c'mon...yes? yes? yes?...nooooooooooo...

it's a farce in a way. funny, in its ominous way.
this is the related passage quoted in the article above - sorry just in italian: can't find an english version from the original vatican site. but the translation of the news website is correct.

"Proseguendo la mia riflessione, non posso passare sotto silenzio un'altra
minaccia alla libertà religiosa delle famiglie in alcuni Paesi europei, là
dove è imposta la partecipazione a corsi di educazione sessuale o civile che
trasmettono concezioni della persona e della vita presunte neutre, ma che in
realtà riflettono un'antropologia contraria alla fede e alla retta ragione".

here's the link: http://www.chiesa-cattolica.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4514

"Nudge, nudge - wink, wink. Smirk."

- Pope Ratzinger (R)

And none of his children died of AIDS.

So, he must be an expert on the sex education of children, don't you think?

one of Nixon's cabinet members-"He no playa da game, He no maka de rules".

:evilgrin: B-)

really??? wow this is tooo funny.

At least in reference to doctrinaire religion, which only survives in an atmosphere of ignorance.

..he was living in the 4th century and not 2011. The uneducated people of that time period would welcome his views and treat him as if he were GOD. Today he's a clown in a clown's outfit.

Education does threaten his brand of religion.
He is afraid of people that start thinking for themselves and start questioning the church

No wonder I left.

the shame of my sexuality disappeared and the fear of being watched did too. I feel so much freer now. I don't feel anyone is watching over my shoulder and I don't worry that my naked body is seen by anyone other than my husband and doctor.

I was born anbd raised in the catholic church, and have lost all respect for any of it over the years...Ratzo is not helping, either.

mark

Sounds like he has no faith that his God can stand up to scientific inquiry, textbooks, and education.

the stronger your belief the weaker your grasp on reality.

was established in Western Europe and, from there, spread to most of the colonized world under the later Western European empires. It was the more restrictive and less tolerant version of the two major early movements of Christianity. The violent history of Western "civilization" would likely have been much less violent, at least from a religious perspective, and there may even have been no need for a Protestant "Reformation" or even for a religion like Islam that redefined Jesus Christ as a prophet rather than a god.
Ratzi's version - more restrictive than the mainstream even - is just the latest in a long tradition of hypocrisy. There was an all-too-brief moment of sanity under Pope John XXIII. But that has been largely forgotten.
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As a former "cradle" Catholic, I am now a proud agnostic who believes that people should be good to each other and treat others as they themselves wish to be treated - not because of a reward in the hereafter, but because those are the right things to do. Promoting information and understanding about sex is a step in the right direction, not a threat to anyone's beliefs.

Anything that prevents getting asses in the seats is a threat.

WTF?

and leave it at that.

both personally and as a means of controlling others, in their super-anti-democratic, monolithic organization, so I can see why they would absolutely hate for children, women and others, whom they have traditionally controlled, to have an independent, objective source of information on sexuality, but I'm wondering about the word "civic" in this statement by God's Special Envoy on Earth:

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"'I cannot remain silent about another attack on the religious freedom of families in certain European countries which mandate obligatory participation in courses of sexual or civic education,' the pope told the ambassadors."--from the OP

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He wants to stop CIVIC education--children learning to be good citizens in a democracy? being informed of and being encouraged to exercise their civil rights? understanding public issues? being encouraged to participate in debate and voting? reading their constitutions, where, for instance, they are informed of their right to free speech and their right not to be coerced by old men in swishy, red, lace-trimmed robes?

He wants to eliminate CIVICS?

This is a subtler and equally dangerous dictate from these tyrants. They not only want to keep children, and--if they can--women ignorant of their sexual rights--including, of course, their right not to be abused--they want to keep them out of civil discourse and participation?

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That is clearly what his statement says, in the news article. Here is a Google translation of this twisted old man's statement, which I did just to be sure that he included "civics" in his anathema:

"Continuing my reflection, I can not go under
another silence
threat to religious freedom of families in some
European countries, there
where tax is participation in education courses
sexual or civil
convey conceptions of life and the person
presumed neutral, but in
reflect reality contrary to the faith and anthropology
right reason. "

So, basically, what this "Pope" is saying is that democracy's "conception of the person" as a free and independent actor in the world is contrary to "the faith"--that it is ANTI-CATHOLIC to assert human dignity and independence in political life-- and that, further, "right reason" (which doesn't mean "rational thought," it means TWISTING rational thought to FIT these old men's preconceived notions, dogmas and dictates--I know; I was raised on this language) requires regarding people as serfs and peons who must be lorded over by kings and "noblemen."

"He said such courses 'convey a neutral concept of the person and of life, yet in fact reflect an anthropology opposed to faith and to right reason."--from the OP

An "anthropology" (study of man) that views human beings as free, independent agents, with individual sovereign control of their own thoughts and actions, is "anti-faith" and people (to be Catholics) must instead bend over for their betters, bow down, get screwed (physically and otherwise), yield to those with property and power, shut the fuck up, stop questioning authority, stop thinking for themselves, be tyrannized and dictated to, GIVE UP notions of freedom because such notions are 'NOT NEUTRAL"--i.e., not obedient to the Pope.

This is not just demagoguery, it is dangerous demagoguery. And it is furthermore a THEOLOGICAL crime--a SIN. He is LYING about the most fundamental teaching of Christianity--that every human being has dignity and stature, that no one is a slave, that we are all equal. The irony is that this fundamental teaching of Christ--which the Church hierarchy has sought, for two thousand years, to attenuate, obscure and overrule--is the BASIS of democracy. Christianity, in its pure form--unpolluted by Popes and Cardinals--is VERY democratic.

What we are seeing here, I think, is Mussolini--that fascist bastard--attempting to re-impose an "anthropology" not of "right reason" but of RIGHTWING "reason" on a society that has escaped from the tyranny of power and that has implemented an ethic of TRUE Christianity that all are equal.

This is is what CIVICS education is all about--informing and educating people about their EQUALITY. Their judgement of things is as good as the Pope's and as good as anyone else's. An "anthropology" that the "top dog"--the powerful dog, the asshole who thinks he is "born to rule," the super-rich bastard who has stolen from everybody else--must be obeyed--rather than an individual obeying his own conscience and exercising his rights in a democratic society--is FASCISM. And fascism is not only a "false god"--the setting up of little tin "gods" on earth--whether Popes or kings or corporate executives or "unitary executive" presidents or "El Duce"--it is inherently evil, because it has never, anywhere in history, been imposed without violence.

This Pope is advocating FASCISM against the peaceful arrangement of society on the basis of individual rights and equality.

"Demoleft" felt like laughing at all this--and I can understand that spontaneous response--but, really, I don't think it's funny--at all. I think it's similar to "Tea Partiers" here feeling free to put "liberals" in their crosshairs, literally--to encourage fantasies of SHOOTING those whom you disagree with. The Pope is saying: SHOOT "liberal" society.

"Liberal" and "democrat" once meant the same thing. The Pope is living in the past BEFORE "liberal" and "democrat" became the presiding notion in our society. He--like Hitler, like Mussolini, like Dick Cheney--want to UNDO all that has happened since that time, in European, English, Scandinavian and American society. They want to FORCE us back into a society of domination--the society of pre-democracy Europe, a society in which the "rabble" have no rights.

Please understand that this "Pope" is speaking for "our betters." He is speaking for the "ruling class"--the oligarchs who have been attempting to destroy democracy for most of the last century, to the present day. He may seem ludicrous to you, but he is providing us with a window on the thought processes of very evil, very powerful people. Stop teaching CIVICS--eliminate civil discourse, in a civil society. SHOOT people instead. IMPOSE rule upon them from above, at the point of a gun.

And that is a very great SIN.

but I am surprised they took it so far publicly. In the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis (probably common in many other dioceses now), public school teachers have been demonized quietly as inferior to Catholic School teachers. :crazy: It is all part of the current neo-retro Catholic Identity movement that revolves around the Catachism. Unless you dot every i and cross every t, you are not Catholic (Archbishop Nienstedt said he wanted everyone "100% Catholic").

They only view the world through a Rome-only mentality, the old style where Rome ruled the known world and many would be happy in a Catholic Theocracy. Of course in today's modern world it will not happen. This group is still a minority even in Catholic circles even though they do hold the reigns of power now.

Happy karma, pope.

against religious freedom. People of certain religions believe certain things about sex, and therefore (the argument is) their kids should be taught only what the religion wants them taught on that subject. To make them take classes where they learn other things is keeping the parents from freely practicing their religion (i.e. the freedom to teach your kids your religion and not have the state force a religion on them). An example in this instance would be that the parents' religion asserts that being gay is evil, but the sex-ed glass teaches it as neutral biology. This, the Pope asserts, attacks the parent's religious freedom to have their kids know what their religion teaches.

It's actually a clever argument and one he might have learned from the U.S. where the "we're suffering from religious persecution!" is often used by Christians to try and get Intelligent Design taught in science classes. It's similar to the argument that "Happy Holidays" goes against their religious freedom to say, "Merry Christmas." It only holds water, however, if everyone is forced to say "Happy Holidays" and not allowed to say "Merry Christmas."

And yanno, every time I hear one of these arguments I want to ask, "Is your religion really so weak, your god so pathetic, that it can't win over such challenges?" I mean, isn't this kinda like the Pope whining, "The devil's making it so hard on me!" I'd love to see him explaining this to Jesus: "I really need a handicap in this game. Having god on my side isn't enough! They've got sex-ed!" :evilgrin:

The hole in the argument is this: Religious freedom doesn't mean that kids getting a free education get taught only what their particular religion allows them to be taught. Religious freedom means that the school teaches facts, not religion, and that no one stops the parents from teaching their kids whatever the parents want to teach them.

So. The School can't say, "Merry Christmas" and promote Christmas. It can say, "Happy Holidays" because there are school holidays and that's a fact. The parents can teach their kids to say "Merry Christmas" and no one is preventing them from that (Religious freedom). Or, to use a sex-ed example, the school can't teach that every child should be circumcised because god says so in the Bible, but it can teach the medical, factual pros and cons of circumcision. Meanwhile, at home, the parents can explain to their child why their religion had him circumcised or not. Unless the Pope can prove that sex ed classes are teaching religion, or forcing kids to renounce whatever their religion teaches them, he can't make this argument stick.

have an equal chance) IS a religion, just like any other. That's what he means by this malarky about "right reason" and "anthropology." The secular, DEMOCRATIC view of individual freedom--the view that we inherited from the Age of Reason--is actually a RELIGIOUS view (like his own), and that it has not been tutored by "right reason" (the Pope's dictates). It is therefore merely another religion--the religion of securalism--that is IN ERROR, just like, say Protestantism or Judaism.

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"Unless the Pope can prove that sex ed classes are teaching religion, or forcing kids to renounce whatever their religion teaches them, he can't make this argument stick."

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He's saying that the secular view IS a religion--that those who would provide objective information about sex are merely acting on another "belief" and that "belief" is wrong.

This is the subtle part of his arrogant dictate and it is important to understand it. It is an attack on DEMOCRACY--an attack on the notion of freedom of religion in civil society. This is why he added the word "civil." He is not just against sex education in public schools. He is against CIVIL SOCIETY. He is promoting the view that there cannot be an objective, neutral, secular civil space where people are free to disagree with each other. That very thing--civil society--is an "enemy" of religion, in his view. This is a VERY fascist, VERY oppressive and VERY dangerous view--from the "absolute monarch" of Catholicism. He wants to impose the Vatican's political organization--outright tyranny--on the rest of us. And, believe me, he is not alone. He is not just some loony old bastard mouthing off. He speaks for the corporate oligarchy and its war machine. Mussolini deja vu.

He is not just against sex education in public schools--he is against the teaching of CIVICS. Civil rights. Public participation. The rule of laws not men. Constitutions. Free speech. Voting.

When the French cleared out the Jews from the Vatican ghettos where they had been

held for 1,100 years -- isolated from society and forced to wear Yellow Stars to

identify them -- and then the Italians came in and closed the rest of the Jewish

Ghettos and moved the Vatican back into its one mile square "sovereign nation" of

all males .... the Pope at the time went into seclusion -- and when he emerged he

declared himself "infallible." And, the church today does remain hostile to democracy --

as it has always been!

Never let evidence of the positive impact of sex education get in the way antiquated religious notions.

and grants the freedoms the Vatican fights against by trying to influence governments --

i.e., women's rights, for one -- then more and more people are freed from this religious

oppression.

And many others are permitted some room to think about how repressive RCC religion and

all male-supremacist relgiions are --!!

...greatly underestimates the problem. ANY education at all is opposed to religion.

On second thought -- as you were.

Just a little advice, buddy.