Tough competition in the media-bias department

By Phil Lawler from Catholic Culture – 7th July 2010

A German rag, Der Spiegel has produced a story that rivals the coverage of the New York Times in its flagrant bias against Pope Benedict and the Catholic Church.

The headline provides sets the tone: Pope Benedict XVI Lashes Out at Secular Justice. You get the message: the Pope is opposed to justice. Subtle. If you read past the headline, you see that the Pope really didn't "lash out" at secular justice at all. He objected to the aggressive police raid on the Belgian bishops' headquarters. But as even the Spiegel story concedes, he "argued in favour of cooperating with the secular justice system." So the headline is roughly 180° off from the facts contained in the report.

It goes downhill from there. How much misinformation can you cram into a single paragraph? Let’s see:

Continue reading at Catholic Culture

And ditto for the Melbourne Age.

Science Blog ignores facts to promote hate and misinformation.

PZ Myers, a contributor to Science Blog has decided to contribute some of his time to hate mongering against the Catholic Church and in particular Pope Benedict. He apparently thought Tim Minchin’s rather stupid and factually incorrect ditty on Pope Benedict was truthful enough to put on a science blog. Gee and here I thought scientists deal in facts silly me.

I’m guessing Tim Minchin based his anti-Pope Benedict ditty on the rantings of Christopher HItchens which have been demolished in an article by Sean Murphy complete with 80 footnotes. Which is 80 more than Hitchens provided.

There’s not much difference between the level of factual material found in Tim Minchin’s video and the anti-Catholic videos made by the “God Hates Fags” Westboro Baptist Church.

One wonders why PZ Myers of Science Blog chose to promote Tim Minchin’s bit of hate mongering. It’s interesting to also note just how retarded are many of the comments praising PZ Myers’ post. Hopefully these “science type” people aren’t working in a field of science requiring the use of rational thought.

More information on the role of Pope Benedict in preventing and dealing with sex abuse within the Church.

"Agora" more anti-Catholic propaganda?

Fr Barron from "Word on Fire" comments on the movie "Agora".
Did Carl Sagan misrepresent the truth about Hypatia?



Wikipedia entry on Hypatia.

Review by self declared Irish - Australian atheist bastard Tim O'Neill.

Pope Joan? Pioneer or Protestant plot - film revives debate about female pope

 From the Sydney Morning Herald
… a film, which last week reached the top 10 box office list in Italy, has revived the story of Pope Joan - an Englishwoman who, legend has it, disguised herself as a man and became the only female pontiff.
The film will fuel debate over whether Pope Joan really existed or whether, as the Catholic Church maintains, she was a mythical figure used by the early Protestants to discredit and embarrass Rome.

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Given how gullible anti-Catholics seem to be I’m sure they’ll be flocking to see the movie.
Wikipedia provides some details as to why the “Pope Joan” story can’t be true:
"Between [Popes] Leo IV and Benedict III, where Martinus Polonus places her, she cannot be inserted, because Leo IV died 17 July 855, and immediately after his death Benedict III was elected by the clergy and people of Rome; but owing to the setting up of an Antipope, in the person of the deposed Cardinal Anastasius, he was not consecrated until 29 September. Coins exist which bear both the image of Benedict III and of Emperor Lothair I, who died 28 September 855; therefore Benedict must have been recognized as Pope before the last-mentioned date. On 7 October 855, Benedict III issued a charter for the Abbey of Corvey. Hincmar, Archbishop of Reims, informed Nicholas I that a messenger whom he had sent to Leo IV learned on his way of the death of this Pope, and therefore handed his petition to Benedict III, who decided it (Hincmar, ep. xl in P.L., CXXXVI, 85). All these witnesses prove the correctness of the dates given in the lives of Leo IV and Benedict III, and there was no interregnum between these two Popes, so that at this place there is no room for the alleged Popess."^[6]

More at Patrick Madrid's Blog.

More at Catholic Encyclopedia.

LOUIS C.K.: "POPE FUCKS BOYS".

Catholic League: For Religious and Civil Rights
June 17, 2010

On last night's Comedy Central program, "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," comedian Louis C.K. concluded his interview by noting there were certain words that he could not utter on his new show on FX. After offering a few examples, he bleated out the following: "I was going to say that the pope f**** boys…." [The obscenity was bleeped.]
Here is the response by Catholic League president Bill Donohue:
It is a sign of cultural atrophy that so many of today's comedians cannot exhibit humor save by insulting someone or using vulgarities. Louis C.K. is a case in point. Absent real talent, he does what comes natural to him—he descends to the gutter for laughter. Now he has decided to accuse Pope Benedict XVI of child rape.
I appreciate debate with adults, but have no interest in debating adolescents. Which is why debating this guy would be a waste of time.
Not surprisingly, this gross offense was carried on a network known for two things: (a) trashing Christians and (b) censoring offenses against Muslims

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Image of Louis CK showing his adoring fans how he can make his belly-button into a vagina. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Twisted Thinking on Abortion » Bill Muehlenberg’s CultureWatch

Those who seek to defend the indefensible have to resort to increasingly bizarre argumentation and twisted thinking to make their case. A prime example of this is the attempt to justify the killing of unborn babies. Some of the most inane and vacuous reasoning can be found coming from the pro-abortionists.

Continue reading at Twisted Thinking on Abortion » Bill Muehlenberg’s CultureWatch

Above image of the feet of an unborn at 7 weeks gestation courtesy of Priests for Life.

If the deliberate terminating of the life of the unborn wasn't such a serious issue I wouldn't feel guilt at having a laugh:


Of course for Catholics guilt can be a good thing. It's a reminder that something is not right. Everyone Against Abortion Please Raise Their Hand:



Rachel's Vineyard (Australia)- Repairing hearts broken by abortion.

The Neo-Pagans Are Giving Ancient Paganism a Bad Name

A Christian who has not at some time felt a sharp twinge of annoyance at the antics of that disparate group of humbugs who can be loosely described as “neo-pagans” can only be a Christian of the most privileged isolation or of the most phlegmatic disposition. As “Goddess” spirituality finds a secure home in religious studies departments and chain bookstores, as the “solstice” nudges Christmas out of Episcopalian cathedrals, Celtic music festivals, and PBS children’s programming, and as C.E. replaces A.D. in academic books, a Christian cannot help but suspect that there are a great number of people with a great deal of influence in public life who would like to see the name of Christ removed from any position of eminence and submerged in a sea of other names.
Continue Reading at the New Oxford Review