The Pope in the UK - Backfire?

from JoeUser Forums

For those don't know the Pope is currently conducting the first state visit to the UK and so far I don't think it is going very well for him.

From the start of it the visit has promted a wave of anti-catholic comment and the things that the Pope and his aides have said have really not helped.

If his aim was to try to 're-convert' the UK I think it might have done exactly the opposite.  It brought back into the public eye the peado-priests, the views on women, birth controll, AIDS spreads and all the things the Pope has said, or done, on them. 

The high profile supporters of the Pope and his reglion are hardly the most popular people in the UK.  Blair, who is now one of the most reviled people in the UK, is catholic while the principle long term political supporter of catholicism and the most high profile celeb ,Ann Widicome and Susam Boyle, neatly encapsulate a rather unfortunate sterotype of catholic supporters.

Those in the clergy are tarred with the 'well he would say that' brush and there are a number of catholics who are publicly trying to reconcile their faith with their views on church policy

Those speaking against the pope and what he stands for include some of the most popular and well spoken people in the UK and the pope is subject to abuse from a huge range of comedians.

 

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Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top

Those speaking against the pope and what he stands for include some of the most popular and well spoken people in the UK and the pope is subject to abuse from a huge range of comedians.
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Yeah he's an easy target since no one puts a fatwa on the people criticizing him. Those same "well spoken" people and comedians really show their "courage" when it comes to Islam, don't they? So what's your interest in it? Just cheering for failure or reveling in anti-Catholicism? Plenty of more nefarious dangers in the world IMO than a religion, that admittedly had it's share of problems over the years, at the expense of any good they have done LINK.

Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top

Quoting Nitro, reply 1

Yeah he's an easy target since no one puts a fatwa on the people criticizing him. Those same "well spoken" people and comedians really show their "courage" when it comes to Islam, don't they?
End of Nitro's quote

Yes they do.  Richard Dawkins and Steven Fry have spoken out against Islam.  Jack Dee, Jimmy Carr et all have all made anti-islam jokes.  Also not really sure of the point of that comment was but hey ho.

 

So what's your interest in it? Just cheering for failure or reveling in anti-Catholicism?

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My instrest?  Just objecting to the same person who help cover up child rapes being the head of an organisation that claims ultimate moral leadership.

Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top

If his aim was to try to 're-convert' the UK I think it might have done exactly the opposite. It brought back into the public eye the peado-priests, the views on women, birth controll, AIDS spreads and all the things the Pope has said, or done, on them.
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I do not think that was his purpose.  While I am sure he would love to see it, he is not that myopic to believe it.  I take his visit as a courtesy one (combined with the elevation of Sir Thomas More).  his followers in the UK may have been feeling left out if he had not gone.  As well as his religious role, he still has a very important political one.

 

Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top

Yeah he's an easy target since no one puts a fatwa on the people criticizing him. Those same "well spoken" people and comedians really show their "courage" when it comes to Islam, don't they?

Yes they do. Richard Dawkins and Steven Fry have spoken out against Islam. Jack Dee, Jimmy Carr et all have all made anti-islam jokes. Also not really sure of the point of that comment was but hey ho.
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Must have missed the first two's Islamic outrage. As for the comedians, haven't heard of them at all, so it is reasonable to assume neither have the extremists.

http://cpj.org/2005/12/journalists-threatened-by-islamic-militants.php

http://www.militantislammonitor.org/

http://celebrifi.com/gossip/Islamic-Group-Issues-Death-Threat-To-Makers-Of-South-Park-2337774.html

Now to be fair and balanced I put this in Google "Catholics threaten death" this was the most nefarious article that came up on the first page:

http://www.celebjihad.com/celeb-jihad/catholic-extremists-threaten-comedy-central-over-jesus-christ-cartoon

My point is you can criticize Christianity (or the Pope as it applies to this article) any day of the week, any where in the world, with reasonable expectation of seeing the next day. Can you say the same for Islam?

My instrest? Just objecting to the same person who help cover up child rapes being the head of an organisation that claims ultimate moral leadership.
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Your proof? I must have missed the video tape of the Black Panthers standing guard on the front porches of these homosexual pedophiles. Trust me I'm all for their prosecution. I'm just not going to throw the baby out with the bath water.

Perhaps if that was what the subject of your article was about, but it really wasn't, now was it? It's OK for you to not like something, but you shouldn't have to feel the need to dance around it or look for a convenient excuse to justify your beliefs.

 

From the AP:

"Yet more than 100,000 cheering people lined London's streets to watch the pope go by in his Popemobile on Saturday night and another 80,000 massed in Hyde Park for a prayer vigil, remarkable numbers given the indifference and downright hostility prior to the visit and the fact that Catholics make up only 10 percent of Britain's population."

Not a bad turn out I'd say.

Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top

I'm just not going to throw the baby out with the bath water.
End of quote

Thank you.  I suspect much of the anti-Catholic fervor is using that horrible crime as justification for their bigotry.  We can always point to someone (say a Juan Corona) to paint an entire religion or race with our bigotry and feel justifiably smug in it.

Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top

For those don't know the Pope is currently conducting the first state visit to the UK and so far I don't think it is going very well for him.
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Basmas,

I just found and read your article and would like to add my 2 cents worth.

I would say now that the dust has settled on the Holy Father's UK trip, that his visit went very well and that he touched a nerve.

From the start of it the visit has promted a wave of anti-catholic comment....
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It's true the anti-Catholic British media was obsessed with opposition to the papal trip.  No one is surprised they turned to secularist, atheist celebrities when they wanted comment.

Christopher Hitchens obliged and raged against the Pope accusing him of crimes against humanity and calling for his arrest once he set foot on British soil!

But you know what?  It turns out the onslaught of Catholic naysayers who railed against Catholic Church teaching on homosexuality, abortion, condoms, celibacy, sex abuse, etc. got something they didn't plan on. They got challenged by a group calling itself Catholic Voices who very effectively articulated with accuracy and conviction the Church's positions on these major issues brought up in the anti-Catholic media.

Ya, they were like sheep set out among the wolves, but they went charged with telling the truth. For example, an anti-Catholic group calling itself , "Protest the Pope" planned to block the Pope's visit to a school in London where he was to address 3,000 Catholic school children. But Catholic Voices were there and although they were at first heckled, offered a reasoned rebuttal to the protesters. The short of it is they debated and put all in perspective and gained the respect of the majority present. After that they were given interviews and quoted on radio and TV and they are the ones who connected with the common English people communicating authentic teachings of the Chruch on important issues of the day.