dann
14th May 2005, 03:51 AM
I got the original article here: http://www.landplage.de/texte/papst-fs.html (my translation)
Habebus papam! - About an enlightened democracy’s need for religious delusion
We hear about the demise of the high priest of a religious congregation that believes that an itenerant preacher who was executed 2000 years ago was actually a god who is now in Heaven where he accompanies, watches over and strengthens his followers to this very day.
After the death of their old boss the chiefs of the high priesthood appoint a new one. That is no wonder. The only weird thing here is the commotion that the rest of the world makes of this incident: For weeks all TV channels are preoccupied with the production of a public death, all other reports follow under “other news”. The “life achievement” and “charisma” of the dead church leader is praised to the skies by the heads of all the major imperialist powers, who also find the time to show him the last honours. There are enough catholic and non-catholic people who go into religious raptures or at least demonstrate that they know the kind of performance that they owe the ubiquitous TV cameras in Rome: Modern free citizens weep, exhibit all the signs of despair at the report of his death, cry and mourn at the requiem, and applaud - like at a successful stage play - the wooden coffin when it passes them.
A little more than a week later the believers are introduced to their new boss at the St Peter’s Square, and again “people are so happy that they don’t know what to do” (ARD - German TV station - live, April 19). They laugh, they cry, dance, wave the flags of their respective nations - and they probably wouldn’t have been able to carry on the sedisvacanz much longer. Life without a pope really isn’t worth living.
After all this we don’t want to hear another word about the allegedly modern Western civilization being more “enlightened” than the backward Moslems. Here, too, the world of religious delusions with its magic and being beside oneself has neither become extinct nor is faith merely a private matter that you leave to old women and the incorrigible. These days the heads of the free democratic state show their great interest in the services of the men of God: It is important to the men in power that the powerless masses believe in a Lord in Heaven that they expect to command and lead them. There is no sign of the famous division between state and religion that “we” allegedly have and the Moslems don’t have.
The central reproach against Islamic fundamentalists is that they have the nerve to base their politics on their religious convictions, thus sapping the foundations of nations; in the case of the late pope, however, this is considered his greatest achievement: He is commended for having helped overthrow the communist states of Eastern Europe. “Our” fundamentalism is good, it’s the other one that’s the dangerous fundamentalism.
Habebus papam! - About an enlightened democracy’s need for religious delusion
We hear about the demise of the high priest of a religious congregation that believes that an itenerant preacher who was executed 2000 years ago was actually a god who is now in Heaven where he accompanies, watches over and strengthens his followers to this very day.
After the death of their old boss the chiefs of the high priesthood appoint a new one. That is no wonder. The only weird thing here is the commotion that the rest of the world makes of this incident: For weeks all TV channels are preoccupied with the production of a public death, all other reports follow under “other news”. The “life achievement” and “charisma” of the dead church leader is praised to the skies by the heads of all the major imperialist powers, who also find the time to show him the last honours. There are enough catholic and non-catholic people who go into religious raptures or at least demonstrate that they know the kind of performance that they owe the ubiquitous TV cameras in Rome: Modern free citizens weep, exhibit all the signs of despair at the report of his death, cry and mourn at the requiem, and applaud - like at a successful stage play - the wooden coffin when it passes them.
A little more than a week later the believers are introduced to their new boss at the St Peter’s Square, and again “people are so happy that they don’t know what to do” (ARD - German TV station - live, April 19). They laugh, they cry, dance, wave the flags of their respective nations - and they probably wouldn’t have been able to carry on the sedisvacanz much longer. Life without a pope really isn’t worth living.
After all this we don’t want to hear another word about the allegedly modern Western civilization being more “enlightened” than the backward Moslems. Here, too, the world of religious delusions with its magic and being beside oneself has neither become extinct nor is faith merely a private matter that you leave to old women and the incorrigible. These days the heads of the free democratic state show their great interest in the services of the men of God: It is important to the men in power that the powerless masses believe in a Lord in Heaven that they expect to command and lead them. There is no sign of the famous division between state and religion that “we” allegedly have and the Moslems don’t have.
The central reproach against Islamic fundamentalists is that they have the nerve to base their politics on their religious convictions, thus sapping the foundations of nations; in the case of the late pope, however, this is considered his greatest achievement: He is commended for having helped overthrow the communist states of Eastern Europe. “Our” fundamentalism is good, it’s the other one that’s the dangerous fundamentalism.