Having attended Protestant services quite a number of times, I can honestly call it a toss-up: There's much meriting criticism within both Catholic and Protestant houses. Unlike our lamented, lost comrade, I am a Catholic atheist. The non-believer has an important role to play, within any church: He is the one who participates without magical bias--and feels no need to parry and gesticulate within the eternal I'm-ever-so-pious competition.
Priests...dread the advance of science as witches do the approach of daylight and scowl on the fatal harbinger announcing the subversions of the duperies on which they live. -- JeffersonA priest is a person who has accepted a position as moral leader within a system that presumptively excludes half the population, within a cultural institution built on the presupposition that the orgasm inevitably defiles. The underlying Christian narrative is awash in misogyny too, of course. In 'Mass,' we observe the priest's weekly effort to avoid mentioning any of the stern proscriptions and threats upon which his religion is built. When I exit church, then--walking past our innocent-appearing new friar--I try to avoid eye contact, as I harbor a distrust of his profession and him.
The Catholic Church pretends to stand proudly athwart history: Bullshit. Attend a mass, or look into the social scientific research demonstrating the depth of confusion, among contemporary American Catholics', as to the faith's central tenets. Or read of the latest sexual abuse scandal: They are very much of this world, this community, this era.
