Humanism, atheism and other freedoms

The resurrected controversy about the alleged Lost Tomb of Jesus raises an interesting paradox: are Christians better served by a mythological Jesus? Might discoveries about the real existence of Jesus undermine their faith?

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After the death of Jesus, any number of sects emerged with him as their figurehead. So why did all but one fail and only Paul’s church succeed? The answer is, good marketing.

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Pope Benedict XVI has had to cancel a visit to Rome’s leading university over suggestions that he approved of the church’s treatment of Galileo. The truth, as always, is somewhat murkier, but perhaps it’s just as well. Popes and science are not a good mix.

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The Vatican is asking Roman Catholics everywhere to indulge in a prayer marathon in order to rid the church of the sin of child abuse. Yeah, that’ll work…

The Roman Catholic church is displaying yet again how remote it is from the real world. It has come up with a novel way of atoning for its crimes – specifically, the abuse committed by some of its priests against the young people in their charge.

Most sane people would see long jail terms for the perpetrators as a reasonable start. Removing ‘celibate’ religious extremists from positions of authority over vulnerable children would be another good move.

But no. The church has decided that Catholics everywhere should bend the knee in self-abasement to atone for the pervert priests. Never mind that the fault lies with an upper hierarchy more concerned with covering its tracks and maintaining a public image than in discovering the truth of its own members’ crimes. The top brass has decided that the blame and shame must be carried by all Catholics.

The initiative is the work of Cardinal Cláudio Hummes, though it is generally held that it must have the approval of Pope Benedict. The atonement will take the form of a prayer marathon. And a fat lot of good that will do the people whose lives have been affected.

Some recompense has been forthcoming in the US, with around $2 billion having been paid by the church to its victims. There are actions impending or in progress elsewhere, too. I can’t image that money will ever make up for the damage done. But at least it’s a honest response.

Getting ordinary Catholics to indulge the church in a pointless act of ‘adoration’ would be laughably silly if not for the context. As it is, it is dishonest, pointless and self-adoring.

In first-century Judea, apocalyptic prophets with serious messiah complexes were thick on the ground. When Saul/Paul set about creating a church, did he pick the wrong one?

After the death of the Jewish despot Herod (several years before the alleged birth of Jesus, by the way), the Jewish world was in a chaotic state. Herod, in spite of his savagery, was still something of a Hellenised Jew. By and large, however, the Jewish civil war – or Maccabean revolt, if you will – that had occurred decades before had sent Judaism lurching back into a more fundamentalist form. This savage period, dishonestly sanitised and decorated with the fabricated miracle of the eight-day oil lamp, is now celebrated as Hannukah. In first-century Judea, however, the result of this reversion to a more totalitarian church was not light but darkness – a deep brooding and foreboding.

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[photopress:tree_.jpg,full,alignright]Atheists in Philadelphia have erected a ‘tree of knowledge’ in the free speech area outside a courthouse, alongside a Christian nativity scene and a Jewish menorah. Sadly, and predictably, only the atheist celebration has attracted controversy and hate. And ironically, the tree has also highlighted the astonishing ignorance of those who seem threatened by it.

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I can’t quite say why I find the above screengrab funny, but I must confess that I do.