The wit and wisdom of The Rt Rev Patrick O’Donoghue:

“What we have witnessed in Western societies since the end of the Second World War is the development of mass education on a scale unprecedented in human history – resulting in economic growth, scientific and technological advances, and the cultural and social enrichment of billions of people’s lives,” he said.

“However, every human endeavor has a dark side, due to original sin and concupiscence. In the case of education, we can see its distortion through the widespread dissemination of radical scepticism, positivism, utilitarianism and relativism.

“Taken together, these intellectual trends have resulted in a fragmented society that marginalizes God, with many people mistakenly thinking they can live happy and productive lives without him.

Well then, we’d better clamp down on all of that education. Maybe only selected few could be trusted with all of that dangerous knowledge. After all, people do all kinds of sinful things when they make their own choices:

A Roman Catholic priest has told parishioners they should confess if they voted for Barack Obama because the president-elect supports abortion.

The Rev. Joseph Illo says his parishioners at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Modesto shouldn’t risk losing their “state of grace” by receiving communion sacrilegiously. He delivered the message in a Nov. 21 letter and during mass.

In an interview this week with the Modesto Bee, Illo says he sent the letter because Catholic teaching requires that people go to confession when they commit a mortal sin.

Voting for Obama and expecting real “change” is a gigantic leap of faith all on its own, but who knew that it endangered your soul?

Back to the Rt. Reverend:

Bishop O’Donoghue has produced a report, Fit for Mission? Church, examining the current problems facing the Church and designed “to enable Catholic men, women and children to resist the pressures to compromise, even abandon, the truths of the Catholic faith”.

He says that he supports Catholics receiving a university education, but urges they should be “better-equipped to challenge the erroneous thinking of their contemporaries”.

Perhaps a panel of Priests should review said Catholics’ writings to make sure no “erroneous thinking” slips through. I wonder if the Church has some past experience they could draw upon for guidance?

It has always puzzled me, this idea that people would more easily choose or submit to the Mother Church/Jesus/Prophet only if competing choices are limited. Doesn’t that cheapen the choice/submission? It reminds me of the choice and owner would offer a new pet … piss where and when I tell you too, or be cast out or put down. That is a “choice” offered only to slaves.

If we avoid that idea, if we accept that having a strong public religion is somehow better than not, there is an interesting paper that is stirring up some debate:

The United States’ deep social problems are all the more disturbing because the nation enjoys exceptional per capita wealth among the major western nations (Barro and McCleary; Kasman; PEW; UN Development Programme, 2000, 2004). Spending on health care is much higher as a portion of the GDP and per capita, by a factor of a third to two or more, than in any other developed democracy (UN Development Programme, 2000, 2004). The U.S. is therefore the least efficient western nation in terms of converting wealth into cultural and physical health. Understanding the reasons for this failure is urgent, and doing so requires considering the degree to which cause versus effect is responsible for the observed correlations between social conditions and religiosity versus secularism. It is therefore hoped that this initial look at a subject of pressing importance will inspire more extensive research on the subject. Pressing questions include the reasons, whether theistic or non-theistic, that the exceptionally wealthy U.S. is so inefficient that it is experiencing a much higher degree of societal distress than are less religious, less wealthy prosperous democracies. Conversely, how do the latter achieve superior societal health while having little in the way of the religious values or institutions? There is evidence that within the U.S. strong disparities in religious belief versus acceptance of evolution are correlated with similarly varying rates of societal dysfunction, the strongly theistic, anti-evolution south and mid-west having markedly worse homicide, mortality, STD, youth pregnancy, marital and related problems than the northeast where societal conditions, secularization, and acceptance of evolution approach European norms (Aral and Holmes; Beeghley, Doyle, 2002). It is the responsibility of the research community to address controversial issues and provide the information that the citizens of democracies need to chart their future courses.

The Rt. Reverend is talking about England, so one suspects that his real concern is rooted from empty collection plates and declining influence. Looking around the United States, it’s hard to see where religion is creating anything but problems, and the rebirth of religion here over the last several decades has corresponded with the destruction of broad public education. One hopes that the UK ignores the would-be inquistor, unless they want to become more like their benighted former colonies.

Addendum:

Another crazy English cleric:

Christopher Jamison, the Abbot of Worth in West Sussex, has accused Disney of “exploiting spirituality” to sell its products and corrupting youth. Even worst, he says that Disneyland is now a modern day pilgrimage site. [snip]

The good reverend notes that “The message behind every movie and book, behind every theme park and T-shirt is that our children’s world needs Disney. So they absolutely must go to see the next Disney movie, which we’ll also want to give them on DVD as a birthday present. They will be happier if they live the full Disney experience; and thousands of families around the world buy into this deeper message as they flock to Disneyland. . . .This is the new pilgrimage that children desire, a rite of passage into the meaning of life according to Disney. . . Where once morality and meaning were available as part of our free cultural inheritance, now corporations sell them to us as products.”