"Popeslam", or "The Audacity of Pope"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_LKYKQ4yx0

So, this is pretty cool. I mean, I hope he's not hurt or anything. I want him to stand back up and walk again so he can be tackled in the future.

There is no significant reason to regret incidents like this. I feel about as bad about the Pope's fall as I would to see one drunken fratboy shove another. The Pope is not innocent. To merely inherit that title is to condone the actions of generation upon generation of liars, thieves, murderers, warmongers and agents of fear. To continue the power of the title is to perpetuate ignorance. Organizations that follow blindly depend on authority figures to placate their flock, and there is no authority figure on level with the Pope.

There is also the matter of audacity and of nonsense. The Pope claims to speak for God in a unique and authoritative manner. I would not get far doing this and neither should he. Look at the men who have started spiritual movements in recent history. Most who are of any repute have been selfish, duplicitious, criminal or even dangerous: Joseph Smith, L. Ron Hubbard, Jim Jones, Charles Manson, Shoko Asahara. That others aren't, and manage to spin nonsense in a civil manner, is not by any means to their credit; any decent person could do the same, and none should go unchallenged in their unfounded claims.

Why do we afford this man his glorious castle, from which he proclaims his amateur opinions on world affairs, controversies, epidemics and tragedies? Why are we still haunted by Rome's ghost? It is the power of tradition that keeps men in silly hats and gowns gibbering in a dead language and proclaiming the godhood of fucking crackers. It is for fear of disappointing our parents, or offending our friends, or perhaps of our babies being trapped in Limbo (oh, they've nullified that last one) that we swallow our good sense and shuffle past this writhing body of organized ignorance with bowed head and averted eyes.

I believe we can do so much better than this. Like a theist, I believe this despite a preponderance of evidence otherwise; despite Jesus on our toast in the 21st century, despite Peter Popoff's miracle spring water, and despite the comfortable silence behind which my own family hides from open discourse. I of course bear something not unlike pessimism in tandem with this belief, but I try to believe anyway. It is in essence a calculated risk; it is Pascal's Wager against human stupidity. I believe because I must in order to keep my resolve.

Of course, there are those who get it. They just do not have the numbers and influence to rock this power structure. Until they do, people's money and their hope will still be hijacked by charismatic swindlers with one hand on their Bible and the other busy under the table (taking part in shady exchanges, obviously - whatever else you may have imagined can be credited to so many religious figures doing it.)

I can't bring down Catholicism. I can't make the Pope see his errors. I can't change the world. There's an unending list of things I can't do. What I will do, though, is continue trying to make sense of nonsense. Even if I only talk to myself, I'll continue, because it is the right thing to do. That's my belief.