Josiah Concept Ministries

Catholicism seems to lend itself well to superstition. Reference the St. Joseph statue. A Catholic bookstore near my house sells these little novelty statues of St. Joseph with instructions that if you bury it on the property that you’re trying to sell, it will beseech St. Joseph to help the sale along.

Two articles surfaced in my newsreader this evening that reminded me of the propensity to superstition that Catholics seem to have. The first was a brief article on a request by Bishop Tadeusz Pieronek of Poland requesting that the heart of John Paul II be returned to the cathedral in Poland where the late Pope served as Cardinal.

Now, when I say the “heart of Pope John Paul II,” I literally mean his real heart.  Bishop Pieronek actually wants to exhume the late Pope’s body, remove his heart, and place it as a holy relic in the cathedral.  That way, pilgrims could venerate the heart.  I say, let sleeping Popes lie.

The second article speaks of papal merchandise being in high demand for the Pope’s upcoming U.S. visit.  Now by merchandise, this time I speak of more traditional merchandise like shirts, keychains, and Pope Benedict bobblehead dolls.  Apparently, the archdiocese of New York has set up a website where surfers can purchase any of this merchandise.

Again, two shining examples of Catholic superstition.  What can be gained from a man’s heart in a cathedral?  Nothing–Jesus tells us that the flesh is of no avail.  Though the archdiocese of New York says that spirituality is the goal of papal merchandise, I have to wonder if that is really true.  The goal of any merchandising is making money.  I think that most people know who Pope Benedict is, and therefore “proclaiming the Pope” is not a reasonable goal for this effort.

But it saddens me that Catholics want to proclaim their Pope rather than Jesus.  It is Christ who saves, not Pope Benedict XVI.

Illinois Representative Monique Davis, whose Christian witness has been forever tainted by misplaced remarks about atheists and atheism, has done what a Christian should do in her shoes–she apologized. Instead of a public apology, Representative Davis apologized directly to the one she offended.

Personally, I think that this shows great humility on Davis’s part. It shows that she knows that she was in the wrong.

But the apology isn’t enough for the atheists. VJack, bitter proprietor of Atheist Revolution, led the charge in the blogosphere:

Initially, I thought I could join Rob Sherman in agreeing to forgive Rep. Davis. I have certainly said things I later regretted when under periods of great stress. Then again, I would expect to face consequences for public expressions of bigotry, regardless of how much stress I was experiencing at the time. Like others, I am able to control my impulses and exercise reasonable judgment, even in periods of distress. Rep. Davis can believe what she wants, but even if her expression was a stress-related lapse in judgment, I’m not sure how this excuses it.

The American Humanist Association says:

“As far as we know, the only source for this alleged April 9 apology is the Web site of the immediate victim. It hasn’t been corroborated or confirmed,” declared Mel Lipman, president of the American Humanist Association. “Moreover, even if confirmed, the apology was only private. That just isn’t good enough.” (source)

So, let me get this straight: even though Representative Davis has done what no atheist thought she would do and apologized for her tirade, this isn’t good enough for them? I have to wonder what they really want here.

I’m forced to think that Davis’s resignation is the only thing that would really please the atheist crowd. Even so, I have to wonder if they still wouldn’t find some fault with even her resignation.