Moral Stupidity

Richard Dawkins, who has a nasty habit of saying what he thinks, says "The Pope is either stupid, ignorant or dim" for claiming that promoting condom use will make the problem of AIDS in Africa worse.

Mr. Ratzinger -- I mean, he can call himself whatever the hell he wants I suppose but I'm just reminding everybody that he's actually a plain old human being who used to have a rather un-euphonious name -- is certainly wrong, and if anybody believes him his words will be deadly. It's awfully hard to see how causing people to die of a truly awful disease is consistent with anybody's idea of a "culture of life." But I wouldn't attribute ole Ratzy's murderous words to intellectual deficiency or even ignorance of the facts. He's well-read and no doubt has an above average IQ.

He is, however, a moral idiot. The Catholic hierarchy is so obssessed with their own fear and loathing of human sexuality that the prospect that people might have non-procreative sex is more appalling to them than the prospect that people might die a horrible death and go on to cause others to die horribly. As I have argued here before -- convincingly I hope -- that is also why they condemn abortion, not because of any concern about "human life," which in fact they despise. They don't even know what it is.

For those of you who follow Jesus, I must point out that there is precisely nothing in the Gospels which can be remotely construed to support the moral priorities of the Catholic hierarchy. I would suggest that y'all tell the Pope and the Bishops to get honest jobs and leave the rest of us alone. To put it more politely than I probably ought to.