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The Coming Rise of Catholic Fundamentalism
Call me crazy, but I see a big change coming down the road for the Catholic Church. Putting on my prediction hat for a moment, I think we are about to see a dramatic swing back in the direction of orthodoxy - or the Catholic equivalent of Fundamentalism. The hand-writing is crucified on the wall, so to speak.
First off, the Catholic Church has lost so much freaking ground over the past generation. They say that there are no longer enough priests to fill all the churches - nevermind that many of the churches lack congregations, or their congregations are made up almost exclusively of old people. Counter to that we have the overwhelming wave of Christian Fundamentalism in America today. A wave which broke over the government, and which now threatens to drown us all (unless we get out our boogie boards, but more on that later).
Combine the above observations with a few others. First and probably foremost, in my opinion, is this renewed fixation on the Suffering Christ that I just wrote about. Mel Gibson’s Passion once again filled the empty Protestant crucifix, reverting it back to its more Catholic form, based around guilt and suffering. Without realizing the importance of this pivotal shift, a great many people who consider themselves Protestants have been swept up in the Suffering Christ Frenzy. Gibson is also a “Traditionalist” (ie, Fundamentalist) Catholic who believes that we ought to revert to an earlier stage of the Church’s development.
Next in line we have all the business with the Pope. First off is the death of John Paul II. All of a sudden, everywhere you turn, everybody and their brother is “mourning” the death of this man. I’m not saying I had anything against him, but it’s weird because people who are not that religious, and certainly not Catholic by any stretch are suddenly awash in his “greatness” and again, without realizing the subtle psychological shift, they are being pulled in by the archetypal tides which the Catholic Church controls through their extremely ornate symbology.
Then we have Cardinal Ratzinger, who some say is the leading candidate for the next pope. Besides a bunch of other crazy things, Ratzinger has made statements about the “prime position of the Church of Rome over other Christian Churches” and he:
[…] believes that the best antidote to political totalitarianism is ecclesial totalitarianism. In other words, he believes the Catholic Church serves the cause of human freedom by restricting freedom […]
Another point worth mentioning, I think, is the Catholic Church’s recent super-freak-out over the Da Vinci Code. This indicates that they have taken an active interest in “preserving” the faith. Which Ratzinger would certainly aid - seeing as he’s been the doctrinal enforcer behind JP2 - acting as Grand Inquisitor.
Then we have the Emerging Church movement, which is something of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they are really interested in actively questioning and rebuilding their faith, but on the other, they too are said to long for a sense of what’s been lost in Christianity. An article on the movement says:
In contrast to the bright and cheerful big churches, he said, “younger people want it like a dusty cathedral.” “They want a sense of mystery and transcendence,” he said.
And if that’s what people are looking for, then shit, Catholicism has that in spades. And that’s not the only place they’ve got non-Catholic Fundamentalism beat as well. If you want a sense of arcane mystery, I mean, they have a pope. If you think about it, he’s basically a fucking wizard who lives in a palace, is the closest person on earth to God, and who once ruled the world. Plus they have a fucking language of their own in Latin. It doesn’t get much more mysterious than that.
If you’re more into reactionary beliefs than weird archetypal mysteries, don’t worry! They got that shit covered! You think Fundamentalists are intolerant? Well guess again, motherfucker! Fundamentalist reactionary beliefs versus Catholicism are like Carrot Top fighting fucking Godzilla. You hate abortion? Well guess what, we won’t even let you use condoms! Top that, bitches! You hate Muslims? We ran thousands of years of Crusades to kill them. It didn’t work, but fuck, we pulled all of Europe into it. You want to institute a theocracy based on Biblical law? Been there, done that! And we’ve got the infrastructure already in place to go right back there. You hate pagans, gays and other weirdoes? No problem. Let’s launch another centuries-long Inquisition to thin out their ranks. They’re just gonna turn us all into witches if we don’t anyway, right? RIGHT!!
My guess is if Ratzinger becomes Pope - and my bet is that he will - now that Ratzinger is Pope, watch as the Catholic Church slip-slides gleefully back into the bad old days. Godzilla is all set to arise from the ocean, and he’s fucking pissed off. There is about to be a frighteningly beautiful union of Fundamentalists under one banner. I feel it coming on the wind.
And frankly, I don’t like it.
Lucky for us, Fundamentalism isn’t the only direction available to people interested in religion and spirituality. As I see it, it’s just one of three drives in religion. We also have the awesome social phenomenon of religious syncretism, or pluralism. In this, people of different groups come together and celebrate their differences, rather than trying to eliminate them. They also look for ways that it all connects together. And then we have the mystical drive, where the individual seeker goes on a deeply personal quest outside the bounds of conventional institutionalized religion for a direct personal experience of god. Both these drives are fortunately getting stronger all the time nowadays. Just look at the Emerging Church movement. Look at anarchists. Look at gnostics. Look at pagans. Look at occultists & shamans & psychonauts. The list goes on and on. All of these are on the rise, and in some sense share the same underlying values: individual freedom, choice and direct experience and experimentation. Look in the direction of people who value questions more than answers. It’s all there, we just have to bring it all together. Forge all the connections and see how it all spins outward into one great network which can survive, thrive and even celebrate no matter what kind of destruction Godzilla wreaks on Tokyo.
- Another Kind Of Evil
- Catholic Church Disses Bible?
- What is Religious Fundamentalism?
- Anglican Priests Turned Catholic
- St. Mark the Evangelist
- Prev: The Suffering Christ
- Next: Ratzinger Overload
April 19th, 2005 at 1:36 pm
and ratzinger pulls ahead! he’s benedict xvi. he chose an ominous name. benedict xii was a big-time cathar killer, and benedict xv approved and accepted and received . . . wait for it . . . the messages at fatima!
April 19th, 2005 at 2:05 pm
[…] elf-knowledge within those who choose to follow the Way. UPDATE: See also Tim Boucher on The Coming Rise of Catholic Fundamentalism.
[…]
April 19th, 2005 at 4:04 pm
[…] e, I wonder whether we will see this play out in the days ahead of us. In my recent post: The Coming Rise of Catholic Fundamentalism, I suggested […]
April 19th, 2005 at 5:50 pm
[…] n to the rest of the world that they’re about ready to fire up that time machine and start heading backwards. UPDATE! Here’s the onl […]
April 19th, 2005 at 5:59 pm
I just found your web site. You are speaking truth!
As a 65 year old grandmother…I just wish you would not use all the potty words. I’ve heard them, used them but grew up and find them so unnecessary.
So called Protestant America is joining hands with the papacy….we are going to see our religious liberty done away with in this land.
April 19th, 2005 at 6:33 pm
Yup Alison. Oh and Billmon’s on the same page too.
April 19th, 2005 at 6:36 pm
wow! are you hitting nails on the head, and congratulations on your insights.
A bit blunt and I agree with the granny, you cd at least put **** like MTV do these days.
On a serious note, we are in for an interesting time if Ratzinger is now officially running the Roman Church (he has been for a while by the looks of it). It’s the heresy that gets me, with as you say Mel Gibson’s Suffering, the Fundamentalism, PLUS Fátima and scores of DEAD saints flying round, confusing real belief.
quote: We also have the awesome social phenomenon of religious syncretism, or pluralism. In this, people of different groups come together and celebrate their differences
THIS IS THE BIG NEW ONE, check out the URI website and you’ll see what’s coming, theOne World Religion, man where it doesn’t matter what you believe, just “Believe it” http://www.uri.org/Religions_and_Traditions.html and this was started (LORD HAVE MERCY) by an anglican BISHOP. Yes, folks, we are into HERESY and BIG HERESY which the Bible calls APOSTASY, falling away from the original. New World Order and New World REligion will be advertized soon on TV I reckon.
We need to get back to the roots of the faith, to the God-man who started it, legit. JESUS CHRIST. Check out what He says and you’ll get a new picture on the whole story. He said he was coming back, but didn’t know when…
look forward to further posts!
April 19th, 2005 at 11:07 pm
Not so fast fellow alarmists! Justin Raimondo of antiwar points out Benedict XVI was always opposed to the US invasion of Iraq.
Here and here.
I for one, am going to hang back on any more speculation about this new pope.
April 19th, 2005 at 11:12 pm
But I must add, at the rate the information is coming in, my *hanging back* will probably only last another 10 minutes.
April 20th, 2005 at 12:04 am
“but it’s weird because people who are not that religious, and certainly not Catholic by any stretch are suddenly awash in his “greatness” …….. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him….. and all the world wondered after the beast.
As for the union of fundamentalists……And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
April 20th, 2005 at 12:19 am
line 5 of revelations 13 says:
if natzinger really is the beast, then that means his rule will only last 3.5 years.
April 20th, 2005 at 3:43 am
The beast is not a single man - “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast”
This wound happens after it gets “power, and his seat, and great authority” and after it rules for 42 prophetic months (I have appointed thee each day for a year Ezek 4:6 ) = 42×30 days = 1260 days which were literal years 538AD-1798AD.
After the wound of 1798 where one of its heads was taken off to France a prisoner of Napoleon, the wound was healed in 1929 via the Lateran Treaty with Mussulini restoring its right to begin regaining its lost political/civil power.
April 20th, 2005 at 5:37 am
Keep in mind too, that nobody ever said the book of Revelation and other biblical prophecies couldn’t be self fulfilling.
What Jefferson called the “ravings of a lunatic” might have actually been a plot, all along, that once it was possible to pull off, it was always destined to be pounced upon and capitalized from the sheer superstitious ignorance and fear at the most ripe time. The time is now and the forces of empire are making their move. They will use every tool at their disposal. It covers up the great crime.
The enslavement of humanity. We’re on its cusp. Unbelievably so, but perhaps even the most hardened rationalist is now in need of a sign from above.
It has gotten that bad. Every institution is in turmoil. We need to piece together our response as those in respectful dissent.
April 20th, 2005 at 9:17 pm
Alison said “So called Protestant America is joining hands with the papacy….we are going to see our religious liberty done away with in this land.”
…. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
The second beast (again not an individual but a politcal/civil power) professess to be a lamb…gentle, good, Christian… but is really an image of the first beast and arose at the same time that the first beast “He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword.” which was around 1798. This second beast ….exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. …….. and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book
October 6th, 2005 at 11:58 am
[…] ible?
Looks like I was wildly wrong back when I predicted that Catholic Fundamentalism was on the rise… Instead, […]
December 3rd, 2007 at 3:59 pm
[…] THE COMING RISE OF CATHOLIC FUNDAMENTALISM […]