Trials of Faith

For an organisation with as “colourful” a history as the Catholic Church, complaining that anything is “undemocratic” is the perfect testimony to hypocrisy. During his Christmas Eve service, the wonderful Archbishop of Westminster, “Vincent Nichols” pronounced, concerning the topic of gay marriage, that “From a democratic point-of-view, it's a shambles.” I fail to see how that is so. Democracy in Great Britain works like this: Every person of age has a vote and, based on that vote, people get elected into power. Those people serve in the government until it is time for another election. If the people in power then decide to do something, it is not “undemocratic” because it was the democracy of the people which gave them the power to do it.

So no, no act of government can be considered undemocratic unless it actually threatens the democratic establishment. Is this true of the issue of gay marriage? If you among those people who are going to be against it anyway, you will be inclined to say that it does, you might even provide some ghastly excuse for evidence and make some audacious claims about the way things work that are either exaggerated or, as is most likely, completely untrue. True, we might not like what the government does all the time (the rise in student fees comes readily to mind) but then again I do not think that just because we do not like something that we have the right to call it “undemocratic”.

What it is, in the Church’s eyes, is unfair. And, let us be honest, it is so terribly unfair for anyone to expect an organisation as polluted and prone to corruption as the Church to actually have to do what somebody else wants them to do for a change. History has permitted these organisations to feel as if they are above the reproach of their fellow human beings, allowing them to do as they please and simply quote Biblical Scripture because they desire more power. For an organisation so very quick to blow the whistle whenever someone says anything against what they believe, they certainly do not seem to care all that much for how often they do it to others.

Someone says “I think that the Church should be more inclusive and allow gay marriage” and the Church goes wild and says how their religious rights are under siege and they play the part of the victim so well that people are drawn into such a farce. But, when the church goes ahead and says “it’s a sin to be gay or have an abortion and, despite the fact that the Bible explicitly commands us not to judge you we are all pretty sure you are going to hell and therefore we are going to whinge and whine about this endlessly” that is perfectly okay in their eyes.

We should not have to tolerate such an attitude! It seems to me that some parts of the Church seem to think that they are permitted to use God as an excuse, to reduce the concept of the divine creator into nothing more than a tool to qualify their methods and to read their own ends. What truly stuns me, is that some of these people honestly think that they are doing Gods work. This divine, perfect being is, as his “fan club” have proven time and time again, a rather inconsistent individual. For under God, “all men are equal”, except for the Pope, because he’s just so special.

Now, I have no ill will toward the Church. The Church is a wonderful organisation, the core message of which is one of peace and love and it has the potential to be something so beautiful in the modern age. In a time where we are often loosing our way, surrounded by the alienating nature of capitalism and suffering, the Church has the potential to act as the beacon of hope, to remind us all of the values that make life worth living. Which is why I find it so terribly sad whenever a member of the Church acts in such a convoluted and stupid manner.

For an organisation that professes to be all about peace and love and including all of mankind in their teachings, the Church waste no resource in pushing people away and excluding them. Enough is enough.