So, World Youth Day is coming to Sydney next week. The Sydney Morning Herald tells us the faithful have begun to arrive in droves. Today’s lunch - tomato soup - splattered over the following:
“THEY packed their Bibles and rosary beads along with their bedrolls, sleeping
bags, guitars and woolly beanies. Loudly and proudly they proclaimed their nationalities, wearing vibrant national colours and carrying flags with the
broadest of smiles.There were 24 pilgrims from Poland, another 24 American Catholics living on the Kadena US military base in Okinawa, Japan, 15 including a choir from a group of 700 coming from Holland, 21 from the US diocese of Manchester in New Hampshire and 117 from Germany who burst into impromptu hymn singing.”
I don’t know about you, but I find that kind of adorable. Especially the bit about impromptu hymn singing. How adorably dorky and gauche these people must be!
You may have thought, based on my general outrage around the time of APEC, that I’d be donning an ‘offensive’ T-shirt and doing my best to ‘annoy’ pilgrims at the big event. Yay for controversy! But actually, I also believe in good manners. I believe we should welcome the visitors with good grace as well-meaning visitors to this country.
...Though I am just a little bit tempted. As usual, the NSW government, Sicilian peasants that they are, decided to trample all over civil rights like a bull in a china shop and make a new law forbidding people to ‘annoy’ and disrupt people attending the event, or risk being executed by firing squad. Heil Mussolini!
I really don’t believe in discomfiting nice people who are just trying to have a good time. I may not be a Catholic myself, but the pilgrims are all basically decent, well-meaning people, who do their best to live by a righteous moral code. Let them have their festival. Tolerance! They’re harmless, right?
…Or are they?
Let’s take a closer look. Starting this weekend, Sydney will be crawling with thousands of people, who believe, literally:
1. The world was created only a few thousand years ago, in six days, by a God who decided he needed a rest on the seventh day. Despite the evidence to the contrary. We know all the scientific evidence is wrong because God said so. Or at least, he told some peasant a long time ago and then eventually someone wrote it down.
2. There used to be a place called Purgatory, where everyone, including unbaptised babies, went to suffer before they could go to Heaven, and this was all moral and good. And now there isn’t. This is also moral and good.
3. You used to be able to give money to the Church in exchange for your sins being forgiven. Now you can’t. Presumably this has nothing to do with politics and the changing spiritual attitudes of society, because of course God is above all that.
4. God causes miracles to happen, like a shadow of the Virgin Mary appearing on a mountain. Of course, the latter could actually be explained as a mass hallucination, or wishful thinking, but it’s far more likely the Virgin Mary actually was appearing!
5. A lot of this religion seems irrational. In fact, it is. In order to believe, you have to suspend reason and have faith. And this is a good thing! Forget common sense, just BELIEVE, and you will go to Heaven. And we know Heaven exists because…ummm….because it…er…does?
6. God created us with free will. He also created us flawed, and with the capacity to do bad things. But if we do bad things, he is enraged. He also created us to be rational, but if we are rational and don’t believe in him, he will be very angry.
7. God may have created the entire universe, but he is not above being enraged if you do not believe in him! Even though evidence and reason points against his existence (at least for many people). He could solve this problem by revealing himself in an extremely obvious way to everyone, as often as is necessary, but that would be too easy and not nearly so much fun. He preferred to have his Word dictated to illiterate and superstitious tribesmen two thousand and more years ago. If you do not believe in God, you will go to Hell.
8. If you believe in the wrong god, you will also go to Hell. It’s ok to work with atheists and followers of other religions, and even be friends with them, but your non-Catholic friends will roast when the time comes. And that’s good!
9. It’s ok to kill people in the name of religion.*
10. This religion, which sounds so obviously man made and medieval, which would make sense given that it was formalized in the Middle Ages when people really thought and acted like that**, is in fact the real deal! Because!
*and if they don’t, then they must think they know better than various popes who were appointed by God.
**that = everything that happens in the Bible
So, I don’t know, harmless, barmy loonies? Numbers 1 to 6 just sound ridiculous, the sort of thing people do believe when they’ve been brainwashed from childhood and haven’t really thought deeply about the issues for themselves. Nevertheless, harmless. But numbers 7 to 11? I’m not sure how I feel about people who think like that wandering my city. Should I bolt my doors at night and keep the cat in for the next fortnight? I do wonder!
But anyway. Welcome!!!!
P.S. Another thing that bothers me is the name - 'World Youth Day'. Why not 'Catholic World Youth Day', to be more accurate? It breaks my heart to think of some Muslim, Hindu or atheist youths turning up, thinking it's for them, and being disappointed!
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