Bill Is Due
A lot of people are incensed by Bill Maher's recent statements about the Pope. I'm not going to comment except to say Maher is notoriously opposed to religion, so why anyone is surprised?
But I will note one bad argument on this controversy that I've heard a lot. It's claimed he'd never say the same sort of things about Islam. In the past I've discussed the weakness of argument by analogy, but that's not even necessary here--Bill Maher has been attacking Islam through the years with as much passion as he attacks any other religion.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:33 AM
1 Comments:
I certainly think that Maher is free to say anything he wants, but I always find it odd when someone is critized for two opposing vices. Maher (and many others) argue that Ratzinger is the mean Vatican Enforcer, and that he shelters and protects criminals from enforcement.
The 2001 letter from the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith regarding priests who abuse children transferred all jurisdiction to the CDF. In other words, if a priest in the suburbs of Denver is accused of abuse, he will no longer be judged by the Archbishop of Denver. Rather, his case will go straight to the CDF... the congregation which, these same critics remind us, used to be named The Holy Office of the Roman Inquisition.
So when Ratzinger summons accused abusers before the Inquisition, that constitutes "coddling" them?
To take one example: Fr. Marcial Maciel, founder of the "Legion of Christ", a thriving religious order, had tons of friends in high places. Rumors of abuse had swirled around him, and the CDF began an investigation, but the investigation was terminated for unknown reasons.
Soon after Ratzinger became pope, the investigation was reopened, and in 2006 the 86-year-old Maciel was ordered to end his public ministry and to retire to "a reserved life of prayer and penitence."
In other words, B16 has been tougher on such things than any of his predecessors, and much more public. Traditionally, Maciel would probably have been ordered into retirement, but the P.R. would have made it sound like it was just his decision to retire. By making the order public, B16's administration chose to take a public route.
I hate it when the letters of the "Word Verification" on this blog are ambiguous... is that an 'i' or a 'j'?
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