Where Not To Get Your Theology

Let it never be said that Christopher Hitchens will not speak ill of the dead. In fact it seems clear that he takes a perverse pride in doing so. To each his own I suppose. But in his zeal to attack the late Pope Hitchens is guilty of a gross stupidity, as opposed to being merely gross. (Although he is that too.)

Since I have more than once criticized Maureen Dowd in this space, I should say now that I think she put it best of all. A church that has allowed no latitude in its teachings on masturbation, premarital sex, birth control, and divorce suddenly asks for understanding and "wiggle room" for the most revolting crime on the books.

Hitchens should have kept to his original impluse and dismissed the Dowd statement out of hand. That he didn't says more about Hitchens blind prejudices than it does about his intellect. (Either that or he is that dumb.)

Maybe Hitchens (or Dowd) can point me to the provision of Catholic dogma that makes child rape a less grave sin than the others mentioned. I'll be waiting until hell freezes over because it doesn't exist. To claim otherwise is simply an exercise in ignorance or biogtry.

Maybe Hitchens (or Dowd) can show me an example of the Church not offering the sacrament of Reconciliation for those that have committed any of the other sins mentioned. Yes, the sticky situation that can develop when someone divorces and then gets remarried does provides an ongoing difficulty, but considering the numbers of annulments given out in this day and age it is hard to argue that there is no "wiggle" room on the issue.

Yes, I do wish that the Pope had recognized that American bishops were too concerned with avoiding scandals and protecting gay priests (including those that would never harm anyone in a million years), to do what they were supposed to do. And yes, the American bishops showed an apalling lack of understanding of the predatory nature of these crimes. But to suggest that the Church was running a "child-rape racket" with the Pope's blessing is simple hatred on Hitchens part. Nothing more, nothing less.