Very amusing post on Boing Boing. I heard the story on the radio this morning as well. The Vatican is now on a crusade against the 'Da Vinci Code' ?
Is this cardinal saying he is afraid of a book ?
1. I thought the Index of forbidden books had disappeared about a 100 years ago ? (funnily enough, former forbidden books ere mentionned in Dan Brown's books). It this is not a hint that the Roman Catholic Church is slightly retrograde... then what is ? Is it the Church's obligation to decide what people can read and not read ? Can't people decide for themselves ? Dictatorships used to travel down that road...
2. is the Roman Catholic Church, probably the largest church in the world, afraid about the writings of a single author, writing about FICTION ? Reminds me slightly of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie that the Catholic community was so eager and fast to condemn... How can one single book shatter the foundations of a 2000 year old dogma ? It's worse than the forbidden books of Nostradamus ...
This week in Paris, the French episcopate asked for a court injunction agains 2 fashion designers, promoting an ad using the Last Cene with female apostles. Blasphemous they said, a display of contempt against religious beliefs! excuse me. What is wrong about using female apostles ? does is change the gospels? no. Does it challenge the Church ? no. Is it a sign of contempt ? I don't belive so. France has laws that protect the religious beliefs of a person, ie the right of a person to have religious beliefs, not the religious beliefs per se. This is a laic country.
Folks of the cross, you should focus on building on the good values of your institutions: care for the needy, proper education, moral values. Well, I'm not sure about that last one... In January, Spanish bishops declared the use of condoms as immoral. They should do a reality check with the 10 commandments: Thou shall not kill, which is exactly what they are doing by saying that.
Were the Church to support proper prophylactis to protect young people from AIDS, and not be afraid of airport paperback books, then the world would probably be a better place already...
Disclosure: I'm a fully registered agnostic. Please don't flame me with religious debates. My post is not about religion, it is about a retrograde church, built upon a religion: it is very different.
