Pope Should Start "Spiritual Renewal" with Bisexual God

On Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI asked the crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square to pray that his first visit to the United States as pontiff this week would "be a time of spiritual renewal for all Americans." Surely spiritual renewal would be beneficial to all of us -- not least the pope and his Church.

Benedict's visit is an appropriate time for American Catholics to call upon him to recognize that spiritual renewal, like charity, begins at home. The pope must take action to revive a Church in desperate need of revolutionary renewal by pushing significant reform in the area of its largest failings: policies concerning women and sex. Faced in recent years with what may be its greatest crisis since the abuses of the Renaissance papacy five hundred years ago stimulated the Protestant Reformation, the Church has to seize the opportunity to reverse two thousand years of misguided views on women.

This pope's history offers little hope that he will do so. He was, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the principal author of the Vatican's 2004 letter to bishops, "On the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World." In that document the Church once more chose to blame the victim rather than to examine its own major role in the problem.

Modern feminism is the trouble, the old men who cling to power in Rome contend. "Faced with the abuse of power," the Vatican letter complained of feminism, "the answer for women is to seek power." Well, yes. And if the men of the Church--and men more generally--had not been abusing power for thousands of years, there would be no need for women to seek ways to redress the balance.

Perhaps even more disturbing is the homily Cardinal Ratzinger gave on the day before the convening of the conclave that selected him as pope. He denounced a "dictatorship of relativism" that, he contended, threatens to undermine the fundamental teachings of Christianity. What Benedict XVI and other anti-progressive Catholics fail to realize is that the current teachings of the Church on a host of interrelated issues -- women priests, clerical celibacy, birth control, abortion, homosexuality, and, most basic of all, the sex of God -- are themselves the result of the Church at various times in the past having been, in Ratzinger's words the day before he became pope, "tossed and swept along by every wind of teaching" to conform to the practices and prejudices of societies now long gone.

What Pope Benedict XVI should, but almost certainly will not, do is call a council of the Church to address these intertwined issues and to recognize that the Church's positions on them are not based on the teachings of Jesus. The Church established from the time of St. Paul onward was set up as a No-Woman's Land. The general views on the inferiority of women come from Paul's interpretation of the literally incredible story of the creation of Eve from Adam, a story that men had made up to overcome their feelings of inferiority because of women's capacity to give birth. The ban on women priests also emanates from Paul's reliance on Genesis and from the Early Church Fathers' rejection of the role of women around Jesus and particularly the centrality of Mary Magdalene as one equal to St. Peter.

Priestly celibacy was not established as a requirement until the Middle Ages and was based on the belief that women are unclean because they menstruate (another indication of the envy of female capacities that is the root of all the restrictions men place on women). When Thomas Aquinas declared in the thirteenth century that "woman is defective and misbegotten," he was echoing Paul, Genesis, and Aristotle -- not Jesus.

The Church's opposition to birth control and to abortion even early in pregnancy is largely an outgrowth of its all-male composition and those males' attempts to degrade women's physical powers by asserting that women and the intercourse into which they putatively tempt men are necessary evils ("It is well for a man not to touch a woman," Paul instructed the Christians of Corinth), the only purpose of which is procreation. The condemnation of homosexuals is based entirely on Old Testament rules established by men who feared anything that placed in question their insistence on the polarity of the sexes.

The idea that God is solely male is the work of the Church Fathers who chose which gospel accounts to include in the official New Testament and excluded all the Gnostic Gospels that contain references to an androgynous God, and of the bishops who met at Constantinople in 381 and modified the Creed to say that the Holy Spirit is male. The idea that a Creator could be of only one sex is absurd on its face. Yet this nonsensical belief, which actually diminishes God, has been one of the main bases for the subordination of women and values associated with them -- precisely the values taught by Jesus -- throughout the history of the Church.

The bottom line is that none of the Church's positions on women and sex come from the teachings of Jesus. All of them are the products of the very relativism that the current pope decries. The relativism of an earlier day has become the dogma of today.

A popular hymn asserts that the Church's one foundation is Jesus Christ. The truth, however, is that since the early centuries of the religion that took up the name of Christianity, the Church's one foundation has been male insecurity and its consequent subordination of women. Peter may have been the rock upon which Jesus sought to build his Church, but the rock upon which those who built Christianity in the early centuries after Jesus was the misogyny of their societies. Benedict XVI needs to lead the Church in a true revolution: a circling back to the actual teachings of Jesus and away from the perversions of those teachings by the early Church Fathers and their successors.

During the second week of his papacy in 1978, John Paul I sensibly declared that God "is a Mother as well as a Father." Eighteen days later John Paul I was dead, only 33 days after his election. Despite that unfortunate example and his own stance against desperately needed reform, Benedict XVI owes it to Catholics to take the bold steps needed to break the hold on the Church of earlier flings with relativism and to bring the institution he heads into line both with the needs of the modern world and with the teachings of Jesus.

Robert S. McElvaine teaches history at Millsaps College. This piece is based in part on his new book, Grand Theft Jesus: The Hijacking of Religion in America, which has just been published by Crown.

Comments

[sjpeyote]

You would think after a couple thousand years that the human race would have evolved more mentally about their belief in some personal God. After all we know today how people still believe in the same theory about the orgin of our species as the people did two thousand years ago is pathetic. You are believing in a buch of fables that have no basis except there were put down on paper thousands of years ago, and years after the events happened if they even did in some related way. To make matters even more sad is that this God there are worshipping is a very violent and vengeful being according to their Bible. I am 55, when I was four I realized that Santa was a fraud, that reindeer could
not fly, I actually looked it up in the enclyclopedia, and also thought that this Jesus story was no more credible than Santa. I could not figure out why all these adults believed in this absurd book written thousands of years ago with absolutely no proof whatsoever, and after 51 years I still can't figure out why all of you believe this fantasy. If you have a problem with your mortality, you can believe in an afterlife without believing in some fantasy being, there could just be another plane of existence when your physical body dies. That a billion people believe in some 2000 year old fable has to be the greatest con in the history of the world.

[Deblette]

That several billion people in the world believe is because it is the greatest truth ever revealed. The book leads one to the truth but, you get none of it unless you are open to it and ask God for it. When he gives you the gift of faith, it is only the beginning of the blessings he pours out on you. I thank him all day long for his giving me his gift.

[indypete]

Is that God or Santa Claus you're talking about? They're interchangeable.

[sunshineejc]

Amen!

[klmebane]

so god will give me faith?? but if i can't believe in something i can't see, how exactly does that work?

[justice4juveniles]

can't that happen without the Catholic Church? It does sound wonderful.

[Vet67]

I DO NOT NEED THE ''FEAR OF GOD'' TO KNOW RIGHT FROM WRONG. I DON'T NEED SOME STORY WRITTEN EONS AGO TO LIVE MY LIFE TO THE FULLEST AS A CARING HUMAN BEING. I WAS BROUGHT UP CATHOLIC AND COULD NEVER UNDERSTAND CONFESSION. SO IF YOU STEAL AND OR COMMIT A CRIME YOUR ARE TO BE FORGIVEN? YOU RAPE MY NIECE AND I AM TO FORGIVE YOU? SCREW THAT, I AM A CONSERVATIVE LIBERAL IN THE SINCE THAT I CARE ABOUT OTHERS AND OUR ENVIRONMENT BUT, IF YOU RAPE A CHILD I WOULD BE THE FIRST ONE TO SIGN UP TO PULL THE TRIGGER AND END YOUR MISERABLE LIFE.

THE CHURCH BELIEVES THAT GOD WANTS US TO FORGIVE THOSE WHO COMMIT CRIMES AND OR MURDER. FUCK THAT!

THAT LEADS ME TO KARMA! KARMA The doctrine of karma states that one's state in this life is a result of actions (both physical and mental) in past incarnations, and action in this life can determine one's destiny in future incarnations. Karma is a natural, impersonal law of moral cause and effect and has no connection with the idea of a supreme power that decrees punishment or forgiveness of sins.

WOW PHYSICAL AND MENTAL ACTIONS! DO ON TO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD LIKE THEM TO DO ON TO YOU! COULD IT NOT BE POSSIBLE THAT THE WORLD WOULD BE BETTER OFF IF WE PRACTICED KARMA?

P.S. if there is a heaven I will be there, Why because of Karma.

[Deblette]

You do not need anything to be a caring human being,. I can see by your post that you truly are. :) You do not need to believe in anything or rely on any God to get through your life here on earth. After that, hmmmm. May want to think about that.

[Locksley]

Fine - thanks for sharing your beliefs. Now allow Catholics the same right.

[tombollocks]

Well done, Vet67.

[Locksley]

I WAS BROUGHT UP CATHOLIC AND COULD NEVER UNDERSTAND CONFESSION - all this proves is that you received a rotten education in the Catholic Faith - something rather typical these days. It is a shame you don't understand the sacraments. You obviously never learned much about the Bible either, since Confession is in there, John 20:21-23 and is shown practiced by the early Church as found in James 5:16, 17. I will pray, Vet67, that you one day stop attacking what you admit you know nothing about.

[sunshineejc]

Who administrates this karma or does it just happen? Who is able to do this? What is his or her name?

[justice4juveniles]

and to think this coming from a dude in Mississippi, the land of Dr.Hayne and Forrest Allgood. It gives me hope.

[bookerone]

If men could have babies, abortion would be a sacrament. The Nazi pope has lost more Catholics than he has gained with his archaic attitudes. as long as men rule the Roman Church it will continue to decline

[CatholicJoe]

bookerone, haven't you got a women's studies group to run off to.

[Scipio]

You write: "The idea that a Creator could be of only one sex is absurd on its face. "
What makes you think that belief in a Creator is not absurd on its face?

[Locksley]

You try hard to change the Judaeo--Christian concept of God as a spirit having NO gender and, at the same time, ALL genders. I've seen you before Scipio in these posts. You usually demonstrate more intelligence.

[ohmemercylard]

lemme attempt to post this old joke again. the first time it didn't show up [perhaps it was deemed "offensive"?]

tallulah bankhead upon meeting the pope:

"love your drag, dahling, but your purse is on fire."

[Locksley]

Must be a homosexual joke. Tallu was Catholic.

[moonglowsun]

Don't count on the Catholic Church ever reversing it's antiquated stances on women and gays, and better still abuse of children by it's clergy. Born and raised Catholic I am ashamed of being associated with it. It's not just the stogie mindset, it's the forked tongue with which they speak. The Church is by far one of the most wealthy institutions on the planet and yet they espouse being poor is being near God. Well......­..I say stop milking the poor to tithe and open the coffers. Share the wealth with those starving around the world. That's what Jesus did while here on earth. And remember, God is perfection, therefore He/She made no mistakes when He/She created women, gays, people of color and those with defect. We are all His/Her children equal in His/Her eyes, not subserviant to some man who lives in Rome and wears the garb which signifies his title Sheperd of the Roman Catholic Church. I'm fairly certain Peter wore tattered clothes and sported no jewels.

[Locksley]

You bet - you don't reverse truth. Oh, and about Peter and poverty .. to quote from Acts of the Apostles 4:34-37 "There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need. Thus Joseph, also named by the apostles Barnabas (which is translated "son of encouragement"), a Levite, a Cypriot by birth, sold a piece of property that he owned, then brought the money and put it at the feet of the apostles." moonglowsun, from the very beginning the Church was involved with charity and scads of money, as Scripture says, funded their missionary and charitable efforts. Now, I realise the media has kept you in ignorance of this fact, but the Roman Catholic Church is the LARGEST charitable organization in the entire world. The Church has lots of real estate, mostly in churches, schools and hospitals throughout the world. moonglowsun .. why not admit that you speak out of hate and bigotry, prejudice and bias - I await your remarks about the Queen of England, one of the richest women in the world, and the head of the Church of England, giving up her properties.

[mckenna]

Hi Locksley I was raised Catholic and I agree it receives too much bashing from everyone. But how can we ever separate the individuals who do evil in the name of the church from the church itself? I don't see any way for those two things cannot be separated? I cannot associate myself with an institution that actively protected its priests when they KNEW they had molested young children.

[Locksley]

I was thinking, moonglowsun - Let's take your example - the Church divests itself of all its property, the artwork and architecture it holds in safekeeping for the world to see, sells all its historical documents, gives the money to the poor and reduces itself to poverty. The next year when disaster hits, jerks like you will condemn the Catholic Church for not being able to take care of all the people it used to because the Church gave away its means ot taking care of them. There is never satisfying critics like you since you are driven by hate. Without Catholic wealth to inveigh against, you'd be the among the first to castigate the Jews wno hold the wealth of Hollywood, and other false, bigoted ideas. YOU are the reason people like Hitler ever get a chance to become actors on the world's stage. I am scared that people like you have the vote.

[Sidewhispers]

According to you life should be just one big orgy until we get to the great orgy in heaven.

[bookerone]

only if priests are involved. They just love a good orgy with little boys

[CatholicJoe]

bookerone, you're sooooooo funny (yawn).

[liberalfdr]

There are over 38,000 "Christian' sects, which one is the "right one"?

[GeoLee]

Apparently the one each individual believes in is the right one which might be why some are worried that in our country 55% of the ones on the SCOTUS making and interpreting the laws of our country might be at least one too many

[CatholicJoe]

It's a good thing that the Catholic Church isn't a sect, but the true Church founded by Jesus. A fact supported by history and reason.

[EdwardUlyssesCate]

A recently released book titled "A Most Holy War: The Albigensian Crusade and the Battle for Christendom", published 2008 by Mark Gregory Pegg, had this to say:

"Innocent III (Lotario di Segni - 1160/61-1216) Elected pope in 1198 and exhorted Christain knights to expunge the Provenal heretics from the lands of the count of Toulouse in a mighty crusade in 1208. He envisioned himself 'below God but above man, less than God but greater than man, who judges all things but who no one judges.' "

For whatever it's worth to you.

[Locksley]

You bet, Edward - the Albigensians advocated a denigration of the Bible in preferance to their own holy men, the "perfects'. They detested the human race, claiming that humans imprisoned a piece of God within them. Humans had to die to release the God part of them, so they allowed complete freedom of sexual relations as long as children did not result to imprison a new piece of God. Therefore they supported infanticide, abortion, euthanasia - their greatest sacrament was a form of suicide ... hey, now I know why you like the Albigensians so much - they're just like liberal Democrats today! - Happily Innocent III understood the threat to humanity - unlike the bastard politicians who cater to the religious believers in Environmentalism, the secular version of Albigensianism and its high priest Al Gore who loves the planet but hates humanity.

[TruthCricket]

Jesus from Nazareth called God the "Father". Get SEX off your mind, there is so much more to living a full life. Thirst for truth found in the wellspring of living water!

[sandpiper1]

To quote Bill Maher on Larry King, the bible, albeit The Old Testament, was written by a bunch of old(jewish?) men, the same can be said of the New Testament. As a RC, I am at the point, I don't know that I believe much of what's written in the Bible. I certainly don't buy into the teaching of the catholic church, I find they are hyprocritical and sanctimonious. We, as RCs, are being told to follow rules that a bunch of men made up to secure their supermacy. I think the Gnostic Bible is more truthful and might add that the Gnostics were around long before Christianity as we know it. They were slaughtered by the socalled christians. I agree with article. You folks may want to read up on the Gnostics teachings b4 commenting.

[TruthCricket]

Why would Bill Maher, a fallible finite man, be more of an authority on god then the first hand witness accounts of what Moyer calls “old Jewish men”?

BTW, I've read many of the Gnostic books.

[liberalfdr]

The best way to 'judge' any society is by how that society accepts heretic's!

[Locksley]

You mean, liberalfdr, when someone comes along and demands that everyone admit that red is green and green is red, everyone should say, "Aw, that's nice." And when this person drives his car and gets into numerous accidents because he refuses to accept the truth about colors, we are to continue to indulge him because it is impossible to prove that red is green and green is red. Never mind the lives of the people who are maimed or die, this person's mistaken belief is to be tolerated. You may say, well one CAN prove tht green is red .. but not to a colorblind person, liberal. So you reply, but he has an illness - and that is precisely the idea behind heresy. It is an illness. Jesus left a Church to bind and loose (Matt 16:17-19, 18:18), not private individuals exercising their right to vote on the teachings. Jesus always gave truth on His own authority - He did not put his teachings up to a vote.

[klmebane]

so because i don't believe in something that i can't see and feel i'm ill? so what's the cure, an exorcism?? hahahahahaha.

[mlambert890]

Hey Robert... The Catholic Church is in a continual decline, Islam is on a meteoric rise.

Islam is as brutally repressive as the Catholic Church ever was, only they proudly keep it up today.

Do you have the balls to post this same kind of piece but aimed at Mohammed and Allah? No. Of course you don't.

What a fucking scam modern liberalism has become. You fight enemies that don't fight back and pretend the real enemy doesn't exist.

As a progressive and an atheist, Islam is FAR more of a threat than the Catholic Church has ever been (in modern history), yet there is NO criticism of Islam here. Quite the opposite..­. There is implicit SUPPORT of it because, after all, most Islamic leaders are anti-Western and you have to keep your priorities straight.

[darcy]

What a bunch of crap, mlambert! The article is about the pope. Last I heard, the dude was not a muslim.

[bookerone]

No he is a Nazi

[sandpiper1]

mlambert890, the article is about Pope Benedict XV11 because of his visit to America. Let's keep on topic here, please. Why don't you go ask all those kids who were sexually abused by the priests and the catholic church as well, if they are of the same opinion as you. The Catholic Church has always been about, 'do as I say, not as I do'. Why do you think membership in the church has been going down steadily over the decades. Look at most churches, they are mosly filled by senior(old) people.
They need to change ie become more liberal ie in tune in dealing with a more knowledgable, sophisticated society. Scrap some of the antiquated teachings and rules they have perpetrated on generations of people over centuries that have nothing to do with God's or Jesus' teachings or words.
BTW, I am 58 and a woman.

[Wilson33]

Well said mlambert, well said. The truth hurts liberals and you couln't have been more dead on! They will bash the Catholic Church and the pope all day, every day. The will rail against the injustices of the church and how oppressive it is. The will rail against its teachings and the how they supposedly treat women badly, but not once, ever, will you hear them rail against Islam and that oppressive, murderous religion. They will not talk about how Islam has NO USE for women in any form other than to produce children. They will never talk about how women's genitals are mangled. They will never talk about how Islam demands that people live a certain way and have no free will to choose otherwise. I could go on and on.

Nope, they take the easy road and the malign the Catholic Church and the Pope.

And they do the same thing with America too, always talking about how bad America is and how destructive we are and will never talk about how much worse this world would be without America.

And now they want Americans to vote in someone as president who has the same resentful, angry feelings about their country. Its sad, but on full display.

[CRGirl30]

Is your argument "We're bad, but it's okay because they're worse"? Not a real strong position to argue from.

[GeoLee]

I thought martyrdom ended a long time ago.

[klmebane]

genital mutilation is not tied to one religion. it isn't primarily christian or muslim or anything else. it is a cultural phenomenon, not a religious one. as for the "only purpose of women is to produce children" thats kind of the notion i get from all religions. what free will do christians have? they are expected to live a certain way too, are they not?

ask any muslim and they will tell you that violence is a perversion of their faith, just as it is a perversion of judaism and christianity. but it doesn't stop religious fanatics from ALL RELIGIONS from doing violence, now does it?

please, enlighten me. why would the world be worse without america?? there would probably be millions of people still alive because we wouldn't have killed them.

[johncopeland]

While not on "subject" your thoughts on Islam are agreeable with me. I would take your thought even further and say that ALL RELIGIONS ARE REPRESSIVE! I believe in Freedom FROM Religion! Muslim extremists who would kill over a cartoon of thier pedophile leader are no different than historic RC who have helped kill millions and do nothing now while milions more die.

[Locksley]

Come on, johecopeland - be honest. It is not freedom FROM religion you really want. It is wipe religion off the map because ie means nothing to me and I am supreme.

[Locksley]

What a fucking scam modern liberalism has become. You fight enemies that don't fight back and pretend the real enemy doesn't exist. ... It is called cowardice, mlambert, and these guys are doing a fine job of demonstrating how to beat up someone who won't fight back and ignore the 1400 years of continued aggression oni the part of Islam.

[Locksley]

Robert - thanks for letting us all realize that you have no deep knowledge of history, less knowledge of the Catholic Church or and not even a scintilla of theology. God has no sex, but Jesus calls Him "Father" to demonstrate a closeness. But, echoing the liberal party-line you paint this as a defective idea. Maybe it is - but only to people who have issues with fathers and parenthood.

[klmebane]

im a parent and have a great relationship with my dad. but i still don't believe in god. sorry.

[Aaror]

Who is Jesus Christ? Christ is a title! It is a Greek translation of the word Messaih. I have heard of Jesus of Nazarith, who has been called the Messaih, or the christ. If you want to use Christ as a title, you should put it in front, so you could speak of the Christ, or Christ Jesus, or "The Christ, Jesus of Nazarith, the Messaih," if you wanted to eliminate all possibility of confusion. But I am tired of ignorant wannabe Christians thinking that Christ is a last name.

[mommadona]

Good point.

I'm sick of the whole male mess they've made of this earth in the name of 'religion'.

I am sick of their delusions of grandeur through ritual.

I outgrew the Prom King and Queen mindset.

Oh, and didn't he know? I thought he got the telegram:

REVEREND SUN MYUNG MOON was CROWNED THE NEW MESSIAH up there on our very own CAPITOL HILL:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61932-2004Jun22.html

[Bondaroid]

Acutally Aaror, Jesus Of Nazareth was known also as Jesus Christ. The word Christ means the anointed or chosen one, he is the savior and was both God incarnate and man. If you only have heard of "Jesus Of Nazarith (Nazareth)" then I have to believe you really don't know much about Christ at all. And if that is the case what do you care if "wannabe Christians" as you put it refer to Jesus Of Nazareth as Christ or not. If you actually knew what you were talking about maybe you would understand the reference. Maybe you should open your heart to Christ and maybe you wouldn't have the feeling of ignorance rushing over your soul like a waterfall, maybe you would eliminate your own confusion. Just maybe.

[ohmemercylard]

Frankly, I'm tired of xians, period. While I realize that there is a teensy xian minority who are actually humane and humanistic, the only xian voices I hear are full of hate, misogyny and homophobia. the pope's just a sick old drag queen trying to hold on to all of her beads.

there's an old, probably apocryphal, tale of tallulah bankhead meeting the pope and commenting, "love your drag, darling, but your purse is on fire."

old men in dresses condemning others, what a joke.

[CatholicJoe]

Do you know how stupid and hypocritical you sound. First you complain that only a small number of Christians are humane, then declare the Pope to be "just a sick old drag queen..." Wow. Would I be right in calling you a "progressive".

[FDRbyGodDemocrat]

Your tirade against ignorance might be more believable if you could spell "Messiah" or "Nazareth.­"

[Locksley]

FDR, I always discount spelling on the part of cultists and bigots. I know that US public schools gave up imparting a love for the English langauge a long time ago.

[NelsonJohnson]

The foundation of the Roman Catholic Church was indeed based on a DUAL-SEXED god! In 'The Rise and Fall of the Roman Religion' by John Ballantyne Hannay, (c) 1925 Hannay presents Christianity as the evolution of a religious theme that is ancient. Every nation from the oldest records in India and Egypt has based their belief system on a PHALLIC deity. The deity is depicted in many ways, but the PHALLIC theme dominates. The Egyptian obelisk, the lingam of Shiva, and many other symbols all represent the erect penis as the origin of human life.

Religion is fundamentally phallic because until the beginnings of science in the 18th and 19th centuries it was believed that sperm contained tiny human beings that were fertilized in the womb. At face value, without science, this is a logical assumption.

So, based on this realization, is it so unusual that priests would be male, and that homosexuality would be ensconced in Christianity? Hannay describes the use of sacred prostitution in Egypt, Greece, Rome, India, and even in the Middle Ages.

An example: The sacred word, the utterance of which condemned the speaker to death, was IHOH. The letter I represents the phallus. The letter O represents the vagina. The H sound is the breath of life. The word goes back to ancient Egypt. The name 'Jesus' is actually IESU, which means the penis and vagina separated by the ES, or effeminate, portraying Jesus as a passive individual who inhibits reproduction.