Christmas Rainforests

Timothy Kincaid

December 22nd, 2008

Christmas Week is the time when all of Christendom contemplates the birth of the Christ. Even those of other faiths, or no faiths at all, might spend a moment to reflect on the impact that one person’s birth has had on civilization.

So perhaps it is no wonder that at this time of tradition and reflection on the miracle of Christmas, that most Christian of all men, Pope Benedict XVI, has turned his thoughts to, ummm, rainforests and homosexuality?

The BBC is reporting that the Pope has yet again spoken out against homosexuality and compared protecting humanity from gays and the transgendered to protecting endangered rainforests.

When the Roman Catholic Church defends God’s Creation, “it does not only defend the earth, water and the air… but (it) also protects man from his own destruction,” the pope said.

“If tropical forests deserve our protection, humankind… deserves it no less,” the 81-year-old pontiff said, calling for “an ecology of the human being.”

It is not “outmoded metaphysics” to urge respect for the “nature of the human being as man and woman,” he told scores of prelates gathered in the Vatican’s sumptuous Clementine Hall.

I’m not saying the man’s obsessed, but it seems that every time you hear from him he has something to say on homosexuality and each seems more extreme than the last.

But with this latest declaration, it sounds almost as if the Pope has declared war on gays. While that is indeed a bit troubling, maybe it should concern Catholics in the modern world far more than it does our community.

The last election showed 36% of Catholic Californians and 49% of Catholic Arizonans willing to buck the church’s official stance on Propositions 8 and 102. And in Europe, Pope was not able to convince a single nation in the EU to refuse signing onto a UN position paper opposing the criminalization of homosexuality.

If the heirarchy of the church continues to become more extreme in its anti-gay positioning, the Church is more likely hurt itself more than the gay community. The Pope runs the risk of seeming to be an intolerant, out-of-touch, and increasingly irrelevant figurehead.

Rick

December 22nd, 2008

Let’s see…

They’re going to begin screening would-be priests in order to reject those who are gay. They’re going to screen would-be priests to ensure no pedophiles are accepted. They’re going to screen would-be priests to eliminate those who are ‘psychologically unfit’ to serve (which apparently includes those who have ever been depressed). Ireland is apparently running out of priests. The church stubbornly refuses to ordain women.

Who exactly is going to be left to offer communion?

Dave

December 23rd, 2008

What?! The BBC says something and therefore it is true?

I fail to see how rejecting gender theory is anti-gay.

William

December 23rd, 2008

This simply shows that Uncle Joseph doesn’t even understand what homosexuality is. I would encourage all my fellow gay Catholics to ignore his ill-informed pronouncements and not to let them spoil their Christmas.

Attmay

December 23rd, 2008

Trees over gay humans. Wonderful choice of pontiff you made there, Vatican.

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