Thursday, April 01, 2010

 

Of Philosophers and Pedophiles


Marcello Pera is a rather distinguished Italian philosopher. He is also a politician who was President of the Italian Senate from 2001 to 2006. There is much more of the latter than the former in this piece, "Paedophile priests and the pope":

The recent uproar in Germany about paedophile and homosexual priests is an attack on the pope. It would be a serious mistake to think that it is too monstrously daring to harm him.

Monstrously daring?

There is a war on. It is not openly against the pope in person as it would be impossibile on this ground. Benedict XVI is proof against any such thing; his serene calm, transparence (sic), firmness and doctrine make him unassailable. His gentle smile is enough to scatter a whole host of adversaries.

A pet rock is guileless and firm. And doctrines are a dime a dozen. But smiles? I've never thought that much of the way PZ Myearshertz makes fun of Benedicts looks but as something that could counter criticism it makes even less sense.

A few days ago a secularist casually revealed their real thinking: "The extent of the problem of child abuse by priests undermines the right of the Catholic Church to educate the very young." No matter that this sentence contains no evidence as "the extent of the problem..." is carefully concealed. Are the paedophiles one per cent of the priesthood? Ten per cent? All of them ? No matter that the sentence lacks logic: it would be enough to substitute the word "priests" with "teachers" or "politicians" or "journalists" to undermine the legitimacy of state schools, of parliaments and of the press.

First of all, note the not-so-subtle shift from Benedict the man to the institution of the Church. I can well imagine what would happen to any teacher, journalist and, especially, any politician who helped cover up the pedophilia of a colleague. And, of course, the institution of the Church claims a special moral authority that we do not expect from state schools, the press or, especially, governments. The Church sets out deliberately to disarm the suspicions of the faithful ... indeed, the need to "protect" the "integrity" of the priesthood was the very "justification" the hierarchy used to soothe their consciences while covering up the scandals. It is perfectly logical to have greater distrust of an institution that not only has pedophiles in positions of power but which then lies about it, with smug expressions of sanctity to boot.

This kind of screed would not be complete without a Godwin:

This war against Christianity is a total war. One has to look back to nazi (sic) rule or communism to find anything like it.

I suppose political history can't be expected to be the forte of philosophers but a politician might just notice what is wrong with this:

It is incredibile (sic) that Germany, once again a democratic country, still beating her breast in memory of the sacrifice she inflicted on the rest of Europe, should forget and not understand that her democracy would be lost if Christianity were vanquished again.

Denmark and Sweden have seemed to do okay in the democracy trade with little or no need for religion.

Pera has apparently done some good work against post-modernism but his disdain for "cultural relativism" has more than a whiff of racism or, at least, imperialism:

[O]nce Christianity is vanquished, we would be left with multiculturalism, which claims that each group has a right to its own culture [and] with relativism, which claims that every culture is as good as any other ...

But Pera apparently doesn't want to stop with postmodernism, as he decries "hesitant bishops who believe that the best way to update the Christian message is to compromise with modernity." Apparently, nothing less than a return to a Europe of the Middle Ages will suit him.
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Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 7:38 AM
Comments:
"It is incredibile (sic) that Germany, once again a democratic country, still beating her breast in memory of the sacrifice she inflicted on the rest of Europe, should forget and not understand that her democracy would be lost if Christianity were vanquished again."

That might come as a surprise to the 50 % of Germans who are either atheists or believe in a "spirit or life force" but not in the Christian God (or any other god, for that matter).
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_atheism#Europe
Does that mean that Germany is only half democratic?
I'd also like to know, how comes that Germany's democracy somehow depends on Christianity while the dictatorship of the Nazis apparently had nothing to do with Christianity although a lot more Germans were Christians during that time than now.
# posted by Blogger JLT : 7:57 PM
 
I'd also like to know, how comes that Germany's democracy somehow depends on Christianity while the dictatorship of the Nazis apparently had nothing to do with Christianity although a lot more Germans were Christians during that time than now.

Because Gott Mitt Uns now, rather than before?
# posted by Blogger John Pieret : 10:13 PM
 
although a lot more Germans were Christians during that time than now.

Including, (dare I say it?) Hitler.

Hitler's philosophy was at least as bound up with his belief in a god as it was in any Nietzschean philosophy. His view of the role of churches was a rather pragmatic one (as a way of persuading the masses to do what Hitler wanted), but he certainly made more references to his god being on his side than a secularist would have. Plus, as JLT says, Christians didn't seem to be a force in opposition to Hitler. Saying that Christianity prevents such things is pretty wrong on the face of it.
# posted by Blogger Cujo359 : 2:11 AM
 
Given that the Catholic Church has recently paid hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation in cases of child abuse in the US and the Pope has just written a measly-mouthed letter of apology to the country of Ireland because of the thousands of cases of physical and sexual child abuse in Catholic schools and institutions there; not to mention the similar problems in Holland and the major scandals in Austria I find it more than somewhat strange that it is the ‘Germans’ who have launched an attack on Bennie the Rottweiler. Could it be that Senor Pera doesn’t like Germans?
# posted by Anonymous Thony C. : 10:45 AM
 
We were in Rome for a week ;), and at least in the souvineer stands there that focused on Vatican stuff, John Paul still holds his own against Ratzinger. I saw no photos of the Rat that didn't seem to look sinister.
A note on the question of racism - I don't necessarily know whether it's correct in this specific instance, but I think disagreeing with another's cultural norms can appear to be racist while not actually being racist.
The obvious example I like to give concerns female genetal mutilation - not practiced much by Caucasians so if you went solely on the criteria of race one could question the motivations behind the criticism.
So there is a point in the priest's screed that I'm potentially sympathetic to, even if it's buried under a pile of rubbish.
Multiculturalism doesn't mean all the details of respect and compatibility have already been worked out - witness the problems of head scarves in France and cartoons in Denmark.
# posted by Anonymous TB : 6:58 AM
 
Multiculturalism doesn't mean all the details of respect and compatibility have already been worked out - witness the problems of head scarves in France and cartoons in Denmark.

Of course you're right. No one could rationally start out with the premise that all cultures are equal. But neither can you start out with the premise that one culture is superior.
# posted by Blogger John Pieret : 9:46 AM
 
Agreed.
# posted by Anonymous TB : 10:11 AM
 
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