Our local newspaper pays one Katherine Kersten, a local nut, to put into words the wingnut case for its Sunday edition, and on the Sunday past she took a swing at Tony Kushner, "one of the nation's foremost peddlers of such vitriol"--"such vitriol" being "incivility and bigotry," Kushner's "stock in trade." A Catholic, Kersten is upset by Kushner's "anti-Catholic rants," which, judging by her scare quotes, direct attention to the Church's teachings on homosexuality as well as the absurd garb of its high officials. Now, I think the Church is bonkers on homosexuality, also on other matters sexual, most especially the proscription of contraception, a piece of nonsense ignored even by those usually inclined to "take on faith" the pronouncements of superannuated coped virgins. So, thinking I'd enjoy reading the article that is the source of Kersten's outrage, I set out to find it and landed here instead.
Ah, yes, The Nation, that "Stalinist journal of opinion"--it's the culprit that printed Kushner's screed. More than that epithet I love the last paragraph:
The kinds of statements restated here suggest that there is something worse than anti-Catholicism going on. When people’s heads and hearts are full of hate, there is literally no rational rebuttal that will sway them. That’s all the more reason why the Catholic League will dig in its heels and continue to fight the good fight.
The Catholic League author's distaste for Kushner, "an avowed homosexual" (as opposed to the less repulsive closeted ones), does not deter him from concluding that those unswayed by his brand of rationality are plainly afflicted with heads and hearts full of hate. I am myself an anti-Catholic, so it is a relief to learn that "there is something worse than anti-Catholicism." If Kushner "hates" the Catholic Church, I can understand why, as it offers up a surplus of deserving objects for that emotion. I, however, am Norwegian, and will admit only to having no time for the medieval view of things, the contempt for science and progress, the mindless invocations of authority, the incense and robes and staffs and funny hats to go along with the solemn debates on such topics as whether unbaptized babies can make it to heaven, as the pederasts are bumped down the road to the next parish.
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