I doubt I was the only person disgusted with the sight of Roman Catholic Bishops in their flowing robes and gold crosses lobbying members of the US Congress to deprive women of insurance coverage for birth control. What do these celibate old (white) men know about the challenges of raising a family? The fact that 98% of Catholic women in the US use contraceptives is meaningless to these men, who obey only the dictates from the Vatican against all reason and reality. These are the same men who for decades covered up the epidemic of child rape by Catholic priests. It is grotesque that they have any authority, much less influence, when it comes to the health care needs of women.
The ex-priest and psychologist Eugen Drewermann has written brilliantly about the emotional damage on priests caused by the celibacy requirement in his book Kleriker: Pyschogramm eines Ideals (1991). Celibacy, Drewermann shows, eventually leads to a distorted relationship with human sexuality, which then manifests itself in deviant behavior such as paedophilia.
The German theologian and one-time classmate of Josef Ratzinger, Uta Ranke-Heinemann, has gone even further in examining the hostility of the church towards women. In her book Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven: Women, Sexuality and the Catholic Church she explores the cult of the Virgin Mary and how the Church's obsession with the immaculate conception implies that normal sexual behavior is polluted and sexual pleasure sinful.
The Church's hard line on contraception not only leads to unwanted pregnancies, but in Africa has accelerated the spread of the Aids virus. Church leaders have insisted that condoms are useless in the preventing the Aids epidemic since it is "scientifically proved" that that condoms have holes. Ranke-Heinemann wrote an essay Der Papst und die löchrigen Kondome ( "The Pope and the Holes in the Condoms") on the occasion of Pope Benedict's visit to Germany in 2006:
Angesichts dieser AIDS-Tragödien klage ich die Päpste Johannes Paul II. und Benedikt XVI. an wegen jahrzehntelangen Verbrechens in Form von tödlicher Irreführung der Menschheit. Ich klage sie an, an Krankheit und Tod vieler Menschen die Schuld zu tragen mit ihrer unsinnigen, unerbittlichen Behauptung, daß Kondome Löcher hätten und in die Hölle führen. Ich verlange vom Vatikan, allen betroffenen Ehefrauen Afrikas und weltweit die medizinische Versorgung zu finanzieren und ihnen und ihren Familien Schadensersatz zu leisten. Die Pädophilieskandale haben die Kirche viel Geld gekostet. Ich sehe nicht ein, wieso HIV-Infizierung und Tötung von Ehefrauen nicht ebenfalls finanzielle Folgen für die Verursacher haben sollten.
(Because of the AIDS tragedy I accuse Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVL of the decades-long crime of misleading humanity with deadly consequences. I accuse them of being guiltyof condemning many people to deal with their idiotic and insistent claim that condoms have holes and will lead to eternal damnation. I demand that the Vatican pay for the medical care of the wives in Africa and worldwide and make restitution to them and to their families. The paedophile scandals have cost the church a great deal of money. I see no reason why the HIV infection and killing of wives should not also have financial consequences for the perpetrators.)
Uta Ranke-Heinemann studied with Joseph Ratzinger at the University of Munich, and became the first woman to hold the chair of Catholic theology at the University of Essen, which she lost in 1987 (she considers herself excommunicated according to Canon 1364 § 1 CIC and Canon 751 CIC) for voicing doubts of the virgin birth. When informed of the decision concerning losing the chair, she turned to her old classmate Ratzinger for help and guidance, but none was forthcoming.
By focusing on the church, you are missing the the crucial point. Is it fair (let alone economically viable) to mandate that employers provide their female employees with birth control? Apart from the obvious sexual discrimination (no free condoms for men), the unintended consequences of this mandate will actually lead to more AIDS. Yes, you heard me right, more aids, not less. DO you really think that men will be incentivised to use a condom during sexual intercourse when they KNOW that their female partner is getting free birth control from their employer?
Posted by: Marvin | February 13, 2012 at 04:51 AM
Everything involving mass-social policy in the USA is flawed. Whether it is about health insurance or sex, mass social conflicts in the USA lead to mental-retardation on a mass scale. The best tactic in the USA is and has always been to watch out for yourself and follow your gut-instincts, and ignore everybody else.
I like to imagine two Americas: one where people are involved, and one where you stand outside and watch from within. I prefer the latter. I dont even like to vote. Of course these little people with their healthcare conflicts and religion are troublesome, but so were the Lilliputians.
Posted by: michijo | February 13, 2012 at 08:03 PM
It's all about the money. I'm not fooled, and plenty of other Americans aren't fooled by these old farts either.
BTW: The two comments above are really really dumb.
Posted by: Hattie | February 14, 2012 at 12:34 AM
My comment was not dumb. I am an American mongrel, and I have seen the cliches intrinsic in international society and in the masses. I refuse further to take part in the fascistic movement of the masses.
People who vote and fight with each other over their ideas are like Lilliputians. Its just some dimension Gulliver encountered where ideas have too much weight. There are many others.
Posted by: michijo | February 14, 2012 at 10:16 AM
I am an atheist, but I will say this of Catholics: they are fairly charitable in most cases other than stupid ideas about abortion. They have their own hospitals and run giant charity organizations to bring refugees into the USA. I am a volunteer refugee ESL instructor, and have seen the Catholics working in the background.
Posted by: michijo | February 14, 2012 at 10:30 AM
There are millions of Catholics doing God's work.
I don't include the Bishops among them.
Posted by: David | February 14, 2012 at 12:26 PM
The real issue for me is that lobbying should be outlawed. It depersonalizes the normal American, and places these powerful groups in control of policies. British Petroleum is one of the biggest lobbyists. Normal Americans will all develop anxiety disorders just thinking about Washington D.C.
Posted by: michijo | February 15, 2012 at 12:47 AM
"You are God."
:)
Posted by: Strahler 70 | February 15, 2012 at 05:51 AM