The advocates of religious privilege

[skepticscott]

have been on prominent display in DU these past days. Why is the admonition always "if you don't want to get slaughtered, don't mock religion", and never "If you don't want to be mocked, don't profess belief in silly, irrational things"?

[bvf]

1. Because of what Frank said?

Pope Lip Service I has a lot of fans here, so everyone else should just shut up.

[JDDavis]

2. As we all know, the Pope is just another variety of hypocrite

He's all for ending poverty, (but what exactly is he doing to end it?)

But he's not really up-to-date on the concepts of equality for women or LBGT folks.

He's all for free speech for religious folks, except when that speech might offend some religious folks.

Well, gee wiz, Frank, you're catching up to the 18th century.

[skepticscott]

5. Oh, it was going on long before

Blank Frank weighed in with his non-defense of free speech.

Here was one of my favorites (posted by you-know-who) http://religiondispatches.org/religion-was-not-the-reason-for-the-paris-attacks/

It is one thing to make fun of real life leaders, quite another to belittle someone’s faith.

Could there be a more blatant and unabashed declaration of religious privilege? And of course the author (the latest in a long line of brain-dead internet hacks that have been foisted on us with more at link) offers neither evidence nor argument to show WHY it's "quite another" thing. He simply states it as if it were self-evident, so mired in privilege that he can't even see it.

[deucemagnet]

9. Get this: he's spoken out against SLAVERY

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1218&pid=174532

So brave, so brave. Truly bringing the church into the 19th century.

[bvf]

11. A bold statement, yes,

on par with "The earth revolves around the sun."

What a progressive!

[skepticscott]

12. And he even sorta kinda believes in evolution

but not really. Enough to be the pope lovers swooning, though. As if it made him special.

[cleanhippie]

3. To be fair to advocates of religious privilege, much of that was Poe Trolling.

Some people just have nothing better to do.

[PeaceNikki]

4. I had a DUer tell me that I support the mass genocide of Jews since I criticize and mock religion.

Because *that's* a logical leap.

[LiberalAndProud]

7. I'll bet that poster isn't aware that

in some European churches of the era, there were Holy days which the faithful observed by finding a Jew on the street to beat. This was going on long before Hitler's rise to power. No matter how they'd like to blame it on us, the Christian church has not yet managed to wash the blood from their hands. The idea that atheists are to blame is laughable with even a modicum of education.

[onager]

15. Surely that was just a few extremists, nothing to do with religion...

As it is completely absurd and improper in the utmost that the Jews, who through their own fault were condemned by God to eternal servitude, can under the pretext that pious Christians must accept them and sustain their habitation, are so ungrateful to Christians, as, instead of thanks for gracious treatment, they return contumely, and among themselves, instead of the slavery, which they deserve...— Pope Paul IV, Cum nimis absurdum, 1555

Oh...

Paul's papal law set up the first Roman ghetto, where Jews were segregated and locked in at night. The same law ordered Jewish men to wear yellow hats and women to wear yellow veils or shawls. Those rules were mostly enforced until the Papal States collapsed in the late 19th century. (Except for a brief reprieve, when Napoleon shut down the ghettos.)

Which of course, has NOTHING AT ALL to do with later unfortunate events that may have happened to some European Jews. So stop saying that!

This is a fascinating book from 2001, written mostly from the archives of the Vatican itself. And the Church still denies most of Kertzer's findings:

The Popes Against the Jews: The Vatican's Role in the Rise of Modern Anti-Semitism by David I. Kertzer

http://www.amazon.com/The-Popes-Against-Jews-Anti-Semitism/dp/0375706054

[LiberalAndProud]

16. I will put that book on my reading list.

It isn't that I want to overly simplify these things either, as we are so often accused. The church in Poland was persecuted and priests and pastors executed. I don't dismiss the cultural role of the church, and certainly the Nazis didn't either. But there is that parable about seed falling on fertile ground, and the ground had been well prepared.

[AlbertCat]

6. B-b-b-but religion is being USED!

I just love that argument.

If religion is so wonderful and all powerful, how can it be "used".... I mean if it's "truth"?

It's kinda an undercurrent that those awful people who "used" religion to send those murderous dupes on their rampage, those devious leaders really DON'T believe in the tenants of Islam. They must really be atheists, just using the power of religion over people.

Well, how can you tell?

Are we to believe the leaders of ISIS are rubbing their hands together and saying: "Mwhahahahaha! I fooled those religious dumb dumbs again! No one in their right mind would believe in murdering just because someone drew a picture of the Prophet.... but I've got some dumb true believers who will do my bidding! Hahahaha! And I don't even believe the stuff. I'm just dong it all for the POWER!"

I think these religious apologists have seen too many James Bond films.

[Curmudgeoness]

8. You just don't get it yet.

There is no religious privilege. Haven't you heard?

The fact that the Pope has said that religion is off limits for ridicule has nothing to do with religious privilege.

[MindPilot]

13. I often wonder how horrible non-believer's lives would be if people could tell by looking. n/t

[Curmudgeoness]

14. That is a scary thought. nt

[LostOne4Ever]

10. "If you don't want to be mocked, don't profess belief in silly, irrational things?"

[font style="font-family:papyrus,'Brush Script MT','Infindel B',fantasy;" size=4 color=teal]You just won the month.[/font]

[Act_of_Reparation]

17. "If slaughtered satirists don't want to be remembered as bigots...

"...then they shouldn't satirize politics I can't contextualize in a language I don't understand."

- Very Serious "Liberals"