The Church of Boot ( Swear-words might make this NWS)

[smokingboot]

So the Vatican is not going to allow gay priests; I was surprised. I am so used to the comedic old villains hating cunts, I completely forgot that they hated cocks as well, that all sex beyond sex for procreation was a sin. Dear old George hit the nail on the head:

'When you make love you're using up energy; and afterwards you feel happy and don't give a damn for anything. They can't bear you to feel like that. They want you to be bursting with energy all the time. All this marching up and down and cheering and waving flags is simply sex gone sour. If you're happy inside yourself, why should you get excited about Big Brother and the Three-Year Plans and the Two Minutes Hate and all the rest of their bloody rot?'

That was very true, he thought. There was a direct intimate connexion between chastity and political orthodoxy. For how could the fear, the hatred, and the lunatic credulity which the Party needed in its members be kept at the right pitch, except by bottling down some powerful instinct and using it as a driving force?' - 1984, George Orwell

Tain't about goodness, tis about power. Christ never mentions sex and with good reason: He knew that the Great One(s) have better things to do than sniff our underwear.

Harm none, help some, be happy, follow a light if you want to, fall in love, watch a movie, whatever. Have lots of mutually amazing sex. Don't send money, and if you see me turning into a demagogue, shoot me (having pumped me full of e's first)

Go forth, my children, and multiply.

Oh, and in the millenia ahead, when the generations turn to the ancient texts of this Temple of Talking Heads and find these words, let no stupid fucker dare translate 'Harm none' as an injunction to kill people not like us: or my ghost will arise from the ashes of lj, and I will haunt with a mighty malevolence; the chips in the back of their heads will fry, and their genitals will wither into strange sea-horse and dried fruit shapes.

Here endeth the lesson.

Comments

[november-girl.livejournal.com]

ephraim and I were discussing this earlier. It's quite a substantial change from the previous position of hating the sin (i.e. the act of buggery) but not the sinner. What's going to happen to all those sworn to the priesthood who are celibate gays? Are they just expected to hang up their robes? How is this going to be policed? If someone is celibate, how is their preference to be proven? I know some of the Cahtolic orders (e.g. the Carmelites) have practicised this policy for some time, but to extend it to the church as a whole must have a massive effect, especially on those who go into the priesthood precisely because they're gay, have a moral problem with their own homosexuality and therefore look for the strongest vow of celibacy that they can take to try to wipe out their sin (e.g. my schoolfriend who became a monk). I shall be watching this one with interest.

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

I too, know some who seek to subdue their various desires in the company of God, in the humility and silence of accepting the pain and surrendering to the Divine will.

For these, a door seems to be shut. Maybe it will re-open, or maybe they will find another door.

There is a pathos and an emptiness in this that makes me sad.