President Bush held a ceremony for the visiting Pope and held talks afterwards. ABC news had this article on that meeting. Wow, what a pair of deluded hypocrites these two are, a comment from Bush:
“In a world where some invoke the name of God to justify acts of terror and murder and hate, we need your message that God is love. And embracing this love is the surest way to save man from falling prey to the teaching of fanaticism and terrorism,” Mr Bush said.
This from the man who said1:
“‘I am driven with a mission from God’. God would tell me, ‘George go and fight these terrorists in Afghanistan’. And I did. And then God would tell me ‘George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq’. And I did.”
Doesn’t sound very loving to me, sure there were some terrible things going on in Afghanistan and Iraq, but are ‘divine messages’ a reason to invade a foreign country? Even other Christians don’t think so2.
and a comment from the Pope:
Pope Benedict has urged Americans and their leaders to base their political and social decisions on moral principles …
Now, I’m all for people to base their decisions on moral principles, but whose morals do we choose? The Pope’s version of moral principles? Are these the same morals that promote homophobia and inequality for women, or cause the spread of disease by preventing condom use, or prevent future medical advancements by preventing stem cell research; just to name a few?
I’m guessing the Pope is talking about the morals he gets from the bible and ‘divine providence’, you can read my opinions on those on my FAQ 1 page.
18 April 2008 at 9:25 am
What I found interesting was how the Pope said he was ashamed of what priests of the church had done in relation to child abuse … but didn’t actually say he’d assist in bringing those same priests to justice.
18 April 2008 at 2:03 pm
Too true Matt
It took the catholic church many years and $billions in lawsuits before they finally got around to saying they were ashamed. (a more cynical person might say, the only thing the pope and his mates are ashamed about is being found out and having to handover fist fulls of cash)
For many years if a priest was suspected of, or found to be, abusing children they were just shipped off to another parish. No, or very little, punishment; no reporting to the authorities; no being fired from the job; no request to apologize to the victim.
I guess it is a step forward that the pope now realizes child abuse is something to be ashamed of.
19 April 2008 at 1:49 pm
I still don’t understand how Bush can get away with saying things like that without being laughed out of office. “God told me to do it”, I wonder if they’d have accepted that as a defense at Nuremberg.
19 April 2008 at 5:30 pm
Kieran
I wonder if they’d have accepted that as a defense at Nuremberg.
probably not, but it might have made the trials a bit more interesting
Funnily enough, common murders who try that defence usually get locked in heavily guarded mental institutions!