A Toast To The Pope

Congratulations on your first official pontiff decision. And what a doozy! Banning all openly gay men from the priesthood. Well done, sir. This puts a stop to anyone celibately thinking about anyone but females. And that is what God wants, right? I suppose it makes sense for a religion with a history of preaching the teachings of Christ while, at the same time, clinging to tradtional prejudices.

I'm not decrying catholicism. I think it's great in a lot of ways, but I think catholicism, like a lot of organized religions, get caught up in the minor sentences instead of the bigger picture. For instance in Christianity, instead of focusing on a few sentences in the Bible (when a couple of those sentences actually refer to the raping of men after battles for the sheer demasculinization of it), why not look at what Jesus said was the number one priority of all of us here on earth-to love one
another and to treat people the way we want to be treated. How amazing is it to think that people from all walks of life, all orientation and color, believe in the same thing as you (and no matter what religion you are, that is true)? And to bar someone from participating in any part of the religious experience, especially if they're willing to make the same sacrifices, is wrong. It's hard to imagine Jesus walking through all possible candidates for priesthood and asking, "Do you like girls or
boys?" In fact, it's hard to imagine women not being in this group of candidates. Because, frankly, none of that should matter.

Oh well, um-to you Pope Benedict! Congratulations on your first official pontiff decision. May your next few correct the errors made in this one!