Yesterday's continuation of
our point-by-point demolition of John Wojnowski's horrid tirade against the
Catholic Church had to skip two phrases in the man's second paragraph – let's
have a look at them now; below are the previous portions of what's turning out
to be a very educationally exhaustive response:
Wojnowski's second paragraph
reads in full:
Ignorance and cowardice also
explains why the know-it-all original bigots and the inventors of anti-Semitism
needed over a century to concede that Darwin was also right and evolution is
indeed a fact.
What I skipped over in order
to deal with Charles Darwin yesterday are "original bigots" and "inventors of anti-Semitism".
Bigotry first:
Merriam-Webster defines
"bigot" as "a person obstinately or intolerantly
devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially one who regards
or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and
intolerance".
Should I point out that
friend John is quite obviously obstinately ["perversely
adhering to an opinion, purpose, or course in spite of reason, arguments, or
persuasion"]
and intolerably ["unwilling
to grant equal freedom of expression especially in religious matters"] devoted to his own
opinions and prejudices ["adverse
opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge"; "an
irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a
race, or their supposed characteristics"], and regards and treats the members of
the Catholic Church with hatred ["prejudiced hostility or animosity"] and intolerance? Or
would my saying so be taking advantage of too easy a target? Answer: Yes, to
both. So let's do something he does not do, and go into further depth here.
Sure there are bigots in the
Catholic Church. There are bigots in your neighborhood, John, and in your
family, and in mine. There are lots of bigots back in Poland where you (and a
number of my ancestors, too) were born. Why, there are even bigots among
victims of sexual abuse – sorry; that was a cheap shot… I apologize.
The Catholic Church – and any
body of individuals gathered and/or associated formally for common goals and
interests – is still composed of mortal, flawed, sinful people… period. You'll
find saints among them, yes. But the average member of any group is, well,
average, and prone to the failings of mind and culture that all the rest of us
are.
The Church is the mystical body of Christ… yet in becoming one with
Him in this very mysterious way, we do not lose our inner and outer
imperfections – in fact, we continue to struggle with and against them daily.
Or there wouldn't be confessionals in Catholic and Orthodox churches, and their
equivalent among our Protestant brothers and sisters. Jesus' mystical body is
perfect, yet composed entirely of imperfect people – because His mission was
(and remains) to call the imperfect and sinful to Himself, not the
healthy.
John, have you forgotten that
Jesus is on the record as preferring to hang out with prostitutes,
traitors, thieves, and other sinners? Surely there was a bigot or two among
them.
It should surprise no one,
then, that there are bigots in the Church; I do not apologize for their
bigotry… but I do not shine a spotlight on this flaw of theirs – I've got
plenty more imperfections of my own that I'm trying to move past, and have no
right to call any kettles black. And there being bigots does not condemn the
Church, any more than having a bigot living on your block require the city to
level that whole area.
As to the Church's being
"the original
bigots" (or
he might be referring to the Popes; he's not clear in his invective): No. The
original bigot was – by definition,
remember? – the first person in history who couldn't see or move beyond his/her
own biases… and I suspect this person predated the Catholic Church by some
millennia.
Point Two:
Anti-Semitism
is as old as Judaism, dear John. Though the term itself is barely a century and
a half old, hatred/fear of the Jews (hence the more precise term, Judeophobia)
originates with the origins of the Jews as a people
living apart even while living among other peoples… again, predating
Christianity (and thus the Catholic Church) by millennia.
Worthwhile reading, John, if
you can take a break from handing out your hate-filled propaganda-sheets to the
gullible, is an article titled "Judeophobia – Anti-Semitism,
Jew-Hate, and Anti-'Zionism'".
Christian hands are without
question quite bloodied through two millennia of cold, heartless, shameful, and
near-unforgivable judeophobic pogroms – whether by our pulling the triggers and
firing the ovens and driving Jews from their generational homelands ourselves,
or merely by turning our backs as these terrible things were done – are
being done – around us.
Even more so than the bigotry
accusation, the whole concept and reprehensible practice of
judeophobia/antisemitism deserves a much better treatment here than just these
few paragraphs; I will return to it when I finally address a
much-earlier hooraw here last year over ludicrous allegations
that His Holiness Pius XII did nothing for the oppressed Jews during World War
II. I haven't forgotten, Spartacus.
Back to John Wojnowski: the
"inventors of
anti-Semitism"
were probably Abraham's next-door tent-neighbors, thousands of years before
there was an inquisition, a Pope, a Vatican, a cross, a baby in a manger. It
was well-grounded and established centuries before the unnamed Pharaoh in
Exodus first acted out his own – how about that, John? –
judeophobic bigotry.
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