My inspiration would be what I always tell myself when I feel utterly defeated - when I hear about the Koch Brothers and the Union busting and the trying to [force] photo IDs for voting - I always say, just remember, ultimately the right-wingers never ever win; because society keeps progressing without them. If conservatives and right-wingers were victorious we would still own slaves, women wouldn’t vote, there would be no birth control, no public school education, […] there would still be a Triangle Shirtwaist Factory if right-wingers ultimately won.

- Janeane Garofalo, Majority.fm, when asked for words of inspiration. 

It was great to hear Janeane talking with Sam Seder again, it’s been quite some time - I especially liked her point about society moving forward and “progressing without them”. I hope she’s right. 

Q:Re: The Catholic church

The Catholic Church has steered so far away from pretty much anything that Judaism and Christianity stand for that its pointless to even put them in the same category. They have built unbelievable wealth and power through almost purely negative means (fear, slavery, and guilt). Whether you believe in Jesus or not, looking at the historical individual, I believe he would have absolutely denounced them as an entity, as he did the Pharisees and Sadducees of his time. From what we know about the historical Jesus, he was against money and power (owning nothing), he fought for social justice and acceptance, and constantly denounced the established Jewish hierarchy of the time, along with their traditions. That the Catholic church, specifically those in charge, have managed to ignore, almost completely, everything the leader they base their religion on stood for makes them a joke. I hope you that you'll take this into consideration. There are many people, from many different religions, who are doing amazing things in the world (pushing for social justice, working to destroy the sex traffic industry, building fresh water wells and bringing food to Africa), but, unfortunately, those positive things don't often make the news (or media in general).

breakingfangs

For the most part, yes, your comment is in line with my post - what is disgusting to me is knowing the Pope will never stand trial for what he has not simply turned his back on, but deliberately kept quiet, introducing thousands of children to rape and abuse within the church. 

As for fear and slavery and guilt, those things have always been built into religion - religions are the most prevalent form of “us” and “them”, an exclusive code of we shall live together forever because we are right and just and privileged. I wonder how people, who think Jesus was an actual living-breathing person, involved in social justice, etc, are any different than, say, an atheist involved in ending sex trafficking? Granted, the church can be useful for focusing a group of people’s efforts - but the internet or the coffee shop down the street serves the same purpose of focus everyday.

I don’t see religion as justification of good-will or selflessness, I believe those instincts are hard-wired into people - and even that is not a personal belief based on wishful thinking but science - but the infallible word of god(s) has been used to justify some horrific perspectives in modern history. Any idea rooted in the Bible is more difficult to tear apart because it’s an attack on a belief system and not an isolated and flawed idea. Which is exactly why the Pope will walk away from this - because this is not an isolated underaged sex-ring, it is an underaged sex-ring rooted in the Church. 

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