As the trailblazer and flag-bearer of modernity, the USA leads the way in advancing every modern perversion, including political correctness, fast food, baseball caps worn backwards and verbs made out of nouns.
This time it’s House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi who helpfully reminded me why thinking about the kind of people who govern Western countries gives me Kafkaesque nightmares.
Receiving her richly deserved award from the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund (victory over whom, one wonders), Nancy explained that same-sex ‘marriage’ is “perfectly consistent with Catholic Christianity”.
I must say Nancy’s take on Catholicism is rather different from mine, or any Catholic’s among my friends. In fact, barring human sacrifice, euthanasia, abortion (sorry about being tautological) and the sins mentioned in the Decalogue, one can’t think offhand of a modern practice that contradicts Christian doctrine more than homomarriage.
The Judaeo-Christian approach to marriage and sexuality goes back to Genesis and is grounded in the vision of man and woman coming together “as one flesh”: “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And the twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.” (Mark 10: 7-8).
Straight sex in marriage is regarded as normative in both Testaments, and the Old one refers to homosexuality as ‘abomination’. Those who hold the second part of the Bible in greater esteem can find similar views in Romans 1: 26-27, 1 Corinthians 6: 9-10 and 1 Timothy 1: 9-10.
Specifically Catholicism regards transmitting life as the only valid justification for having sex, which noble aim is manifestly unachievable in homosexual intercourse – or indeed in heterosexual coupling that uses contraception or orifices free of reproductive organs.
I’m not voicing agreement or disagreement with Christian doctrine in general or Catholic teaching in particular. God knows I’ve done so often enough in other pieces. The purpose of this one is simply to show that Nancy’s statement testifies either to her total ignorance or to her mental retardation or both.
She proceeded to shove her foot even deeper into her mouth. Nancy explained that she had taken her grandchildren to the aforementioned award ceremony because “it’s really important to see what the practice of our faith is.”
But that’s not what the practice is, which Nancy ought to know. I forgot to mention that she describes herself as a “mainstream Catholic”. If so, one wonders what the heretics and atheists are doing these days.
In any case, her grandchildren have already been taught to support homomarriage specifically because “they go to Catholic school”. What are the pupils of American secular schools taught to support? Bestiality? Polygamy? Snuff movies?
Nancy is entitled to her own opinion, but she isn’t entitled to her own facts. She doesn’t seem to realise this, hence her boldfaced lie (or, to be kinder, delusion) that Catholic catechism supports homomarriage:
“The fact is, what we’re taught is to respect people… To say that [homomarriage] endangers mainstream Christian thinking is so completely wrong.”
It’s God’s own truth that Christianity teaches to respect people. But it’s moronic ignorance to infer that it thereby teaches respect for everything people do.
In fact, St Augustine, who conceivably had a firmer grasp of Christian doctrine than Nancy does, put it with his usual precision: “Cum dilectioni hominem et odio vitorium.” Loosely translated, this usually comes across as “love the sinner, hate the sin.”
But never mind Augustine, Catholicism or Christian doctrine. Just stop to ponder the blood-chilling fact that this flaky woman exerts a major influence on American, and therefore world, politics.
Another thing worth pondering is that her drivel just may be self-fulfilling prophecy. For American ideas, both good and bad, tend to make their way to our shores within a few years of their origination.
So one wonders how long before British Catholics begin to interpret doctrine in this perverse way. My guess is that the Anglicans just may beat them to it.