Joseph "Benedict" Ratzinger

[vriane.livejournal.com]

The leader of the Catholic communion, the supposedly 'infallible' Mr Joseph "Benedict" Ratzinger, renewed his calls for denying the legitimacy of the existence of homosexual and transsexual people by calling them 'against nature' [BBC, Guardian, Ekklesia, Times]

Nothing new here, but still, it saddens me to hear those views repeated and spread again. It doesn't matter to this guy that homosexual and transsexual people have existed since forever, and are certainly not something 'aberrant' or in contradiction with human "nature", if such a thing exists and is even worth consideration.

What saddens me even more is to see the concept of "Nature" abused again in the cause of a religion or ideology. If there is something I learned from my courses in philosophy, it is that any argument that relies on a supposed "natural" state of thing is inherently totalitarian, since it justifies going against anybody or anything that is seen to be outside "nature", in the name of "nature".

I mean, if "nature" needs protection, it is certainly not from humans she will receive it. How stupid can a man be to say that he will defend "nature"; if nature is nature, then she will defend herself very well, thank you. Saying that somehow humans can put themselves outside nature is inherently contradictory with the whole idea of nature.

I guess Mr Benedict does not believe in God anymore, and now worships Nature, or at least his pagan idea of it? I mean, God has very often gone against "nature"; after all, isn't that the principle of a "miracle". God makes miracles, and miracles are against nature, they contravene the rules of physics. So, if God is responsible for miracles, shouldn't Mr Benedict excommunicate God?

What saddens me very much is that, from my experience, pronouncements from ignorant people like Mr Joseph "Benedict" Ratzinger have a very direct negative consequence on my life, my access to treatment, the way people treat me. A lot of people still see whatever the Pope says as a justification for their attitude to homosexual and transsexual people; politicians use what he says to justify their policies, doctors are influenced by his position, the administration still has people who get their hints from the Catholic church.

Sadly enough, people who wish to advance in society and make a career still prefer not to go against the Catholic church. It takes courage for a politician to just say things and act in ways that are against the Catholic church, and a lot of them just don't have that courage.

Anyway, I think this touches me quite a bit because I always knew that the Catholic church is one of the main proponents of the denial of the right of homosexual and transsexual people to legitimately exist, but it is the first time I hear it so publicly pronounced. This would have come one days or another, and I would have had anyway to grapple with that issue that has such a strong effect on my life, even in a supposedly laicised society.

Now, I feel a bit better having set out this argument on paper (or on the screen). And I understand better why, in the last few centuries, there has been a need for a large majority of intelligent, responsible people to move away from the Catholic church. It is staffed by people who are just too mediocre to be trusted with any pronouncement on the running of society or of people's inner life.

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