Pope likens 'gender theory' to Nazi propaganda

[muriel_volestrangler]

As well as the 'like rabbits' comment, the Pope is now saying that he has a problem with outside organisations having ideas about what schools should teach:

Elaborating on comments he made in Manila Jan. 16 about "ideological colonization that tries to destroy the family," the pope offered a 20-year-old example of an unnamed government official, apparently in his native Argentina, who was offered a loan to build schools for poor children on the condition she assign students a textbook on "gender theory."

Catholic leaders often use the term "gender theory" to refer to ideas that question or deny the God-given nature of sex differences and the complementarity of man and woman as the basis of the family.

Pope Francis said African bishops attending the October 2014 Synod on the Family had complained of similar restrictions on funding for projects in their countries,

"Why do I say ideological colonization? Because they use a people's need as an opportunity to come in and impose their will on children. But this is nothing new. The dictatorships of the last century did the same thing; they came in with their doctrine. Think of the Balilla. Think of the Hitler Youth," the pope said.

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1500255.htm

I hear he also has a problem with a beam in his eye.

[merrily]

1. For once, I am not let down. I never bought into the breathless media hype about him.

Everything he said seem to me the same ole, same ole, but phrased more cagily.

Whom am I to judge if a priest is homosexual?

That was the first time I recall the media going gaga over something he said. However, for quite a while, the teaching had already been that it was okay if you are homosexual, as long as you do not act on it (i.e., no sex). No sex is required of priests, anyway. So, nothing new at all, except cagier wording.

But, this is part of the group that decided which ancient writings were divinely inspired. So, they decided what roles were "God"-given" and which were only merely scratchings of fallible humans with crude implements on old kinds of writing material.

[gaspee]

2. But it's OK

If Catholics do it - how does he think his own home country became Cathlic - it was at the tip of the spear and at the muzzle of the gun.

It's OK to colonize if you are Catholic, I guess.

I have no idea why people love this guy - he thinks women should have the status of property. That alone should be enough - if women are less important than fetuses, as the are in Official Catholic Doctrine, then they are the property of their male owners to be used as vessels and servants and not real people.

But he sticks up for the poor! people like to say - well, what about poor women, who are most harmed by the policies of the church - an d yet again, women - not real people.

[cbayer]

3. Ok, I had to look up gender theory and I still don't understand why

this is something that a school would insist on teaching or that he would object to. Does it come down to feminism or does it involve the issue of transsexualism or is it something else entirely.

This does seem outrageously hypocritical, as clearly the catholics have insisted on a specific curriculum when they fund schools.

[rug]

4. Me too. I'm still not sure what he's talking about.

I'll see if I can dig up the speech itself. I never heard of the Balilla either.

[cbayer]

5. Sometimes I think there might be translation problems.

Never heard of Balilla either and had to look that up. A Genoese boy who threw a stone at police during a war in Austria.

[Trillo]

8. You should trust yourself. If you're feeling confused, note the feeling.

He's against "ideological colonization" while "ideologically colonizing."

[rug]

11. I'm not in the least confused. I prefer complete information before posting screams.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. This is how the Vatican sees it:

In a nutshell, what is the gender theory?

According to the social engineers who have been fabricating the gender theory since the 1950s, the feminine and masculine identity, the ontological structure of the woman as spouse, mother and educator, the anthropological complementarity of man and woman, fatherhood, heterosexuality (“heteronormativity”, dominant in all cultures), marriage and the traditional family would not exist per se, would not be good in themselves, but would be social constructs: sociological phenomena, social functions constructed over time, stereotypes to deconstruct by way of education and culture as they are deemed discriminatory and contrary to equality.

http://www.laici.va/content/laici/en/sezioni/donna/notizie/interview-with-marguerite-a--peeters-on-the-gender-theory.html

So it possibly is just 'feminism'. That certainly sounds like it's about sociology, not transsexualism.

Or that berk Burke:

One of the biggest challenges is the defective catechesis in the Roman Catholic Church—I can speak from my experience in the United States—for the past 40 to 50 years. Children and young people are not well catechized with regard to marriage. Coupled with that is the recent entrance of a so-called “gender theory” that alienates human sexuality from its essentially conjugal meaning. This is now being brought into schools along with the advancement of the homosexual agenda. This is a big challenge for families. It is only in the family that the true sense of who we are as man and woman is taught effectively both by the example of the father and mother, but also in catechesis to amplify that and assist the parents in the fuller teaching of the faith. So this is one major difficulty.

http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/10/06/cardinal_burke_christs_truth_is_at_the_heart_of_marriage/1107957

[cbayer]

9. Thanks for that. So it's about feminism and homosexuality, I guess.

I can't imagine why they would object to defining sexuality as more than just a rigid biological construct. Their position sounds hopelessly out of date.

This is the kind of thing I hoped would be abandoned and the vatican would be dragged into the 21st century.

[Humanist_Activist]

10. You should try to debate with some Catholics on transgender issues...

oh boy, do you get an earful of out of date information that is, of course, the only correct information because it comes from the One True Church(TM).

[Leontius]

12. What does "defining sexuality as more than just a rigid biological construct" mean?

[cbayer]

13. From what I am reading about this, it means considering all the social

influences on the development of gender identity, as opposed to just what kind of genitals someone has.

It also links those genders to particular roles.

[edhopper]

7. He is obviously

Irony deficient.

Because they use a people's need as an opportunity to come in and impose their will on children.