In my time with Disney, I pegged what I found to be the company's fundamental flaw. The Disney corporation was founded by a visionary fuelled by a childlike sense of mirth and magic. Since his death, the company has been run (for better or worse) by clod businessmen with no sense of magic. Realizing that it is "the magic" that sells, they have tried to mimic this as best they can, with reasonable success. Once you dig into it, however, you find it hollow and empty; these are men with a great mission and yet no real concept of why that mission matters.
So now, religion.
It's that time of year again...the temperature's dropping, the leaves are falling, and someone wants the Pope arrested for crimes against humanity. I find it rather ironic how the liberal voice is so quick to quash the conservative outlash against Islam..."Don't blame the whole group for the actions of a few maniacs."...while, when it comes to Christianity, those same liberals will cry out..."Well, they're ALL an intolerant bunch of rapists, really." Apparently the Pope (an individual, mind you) must be held accountable for ALL of us, good and bad.
Not that anyone will ever admit (or, in most cases, can even SEE) their own hypocrisy. So there's really no point in arguing with them. Even the most committed intellectual atheists, professors and researchers all, seem to devolve into no better than their screaming Conservative opponents when confronted with the question of religion. I've said it before; no one is angrier than a dyed-in-the-wool athiest.
"Peace be with you, my son."
"F*** off, I don't believe that s***!"
Am I being unfair? Any more unfair than those who blame religion for the actions of its practitioners? That's faulty logic, pure and simple, and the university types who propagate it should be ashamed of themselves. It's tantamount to blaming Mickey Mouse himself for the business practices of the Disney Corporation.
Fact is, like all organizations on earth, the Church is run by HUMAN BEINGS. Some are good, some are not so good, and the worst of all are the ones who make the newspapers. Abuse scandals are front and centre on the newspaper; meanwhile, the $200 000 that my parish ALONE has raised this year for the poor and the refugees goes unreported. Sadly, the latter are the typical Christian, not the former. People want to arrest the Pope in response to the abuse scandals. By that logic, he should also be given a medal for all the charitable work done EVERY SINGLE DAY by good Christians the world over.
How's THAT for ironic?
Please don't construe that I'm defending the bad people. But if we're ever going to have any progress, then emotion (on both sides) needs to be put aside in favour of rational conversation. The fact is, athiests will have no more success in eliminating believers than WE'VE had in eliminating them (we even had an Inquisition, and that still didn't do it!). So this planet, for better or worse, will have to be shared.
Does everyone remember how to share? We learned it when we were kids...from Mickey Mouse.
