(and the other one is plain
creepy)
Tony Blair, the former British Prime Minister and a converted Catholic since at least December 2007, is urging the Pope to reconsider his stance on homosexuality.
No, seriously.
Mr. Blair, speaking to the gay magazine Attitude, said that he wanted to “urge religious figures everywhere to reinterpret their religious texts to see them as metaphorical, not literal, and suggested that in time this would make all religious groups accept gay people as equals”.
Well, yes, sonny, there are such religious figures. Many of them can be found in the Anglican Communion, whose presence in England, the Church of England, you walked away from more than a year ago. Psyche!
Blaming generational difference for the Pope’s rigid stance in this regard, Blair continued: “We need an attitude of mind where rethinking and the concept of evolving attitudes becomes part of the discipline with which you approach your religious faith."
I wonder what has this bloke been sniffing lately: Mr. Blair: as a file-and-rank Roman Catholic, you can urge nothing, ask nothing, demand nothing and challenge nothing, particularly not from your parish priest, bishop and, even less, the Pope.
In the interview Mr Blair spoke of a "quiet revolution in thinking" and implied that he believed the Pope to be out of step with the public.
You’ve got to be kidding me. The Pope, out of step with the public? Huh?
"There are many good and great things the Catholic Church does, and there are many fantastic things this Pope stands for, but I think what is interesting is that if you went into any Catholic Church, particularly a well attended one, on any Sunday here and did a poll of the congregation, you'd be surprised at how liberal-minded people were." The faith of ordinary Catholics is rarely found "in those types of entrenched attitudes", he said.
Even if we choose not to even wonder what is it that the Pope may be doing –or standing for- that may be, in any way, fantastic, still! See, Mr. Blair, what the Pope says has got nothing to do with what the average self-described Catholic may be like in your wealthy, clean-cut, individualism-obsessed and so, seemingly-tolerant neck in the woods. Nor is whatever the faith of ordinary (Roman) Catholics may be of any relevance to the kind of entrenched attitude exemplified by the Pope and pretty much the rest of his Roman con-op, I mean, Curia. Please care to wake up and smell the coffee.
This bloke is dead wrong. Not only that, he’s now affiliated with a church that fits the bill. Godspeed.
Update: If Mr Blair is looking for guidance from religious leaders in matters of acceptance, inclusion and tolerance of people regardless of their sexual orientation, he might not want to necessarily look into the Roman Catholic Church. Instead, he might want to consider what the (Anglican) Bishop of Manchester has just said about this issue in a statement addressing organizations striving to eliminate bullying from schools, including bullying on account of the victim's sexual orientation. The Pope -any Pope- would probably die before writing and, even less, publishing something like this.
But he can say pretty stupid, insensitive, retarded things alright.
