More "wisdom" from the Vatican. Pope decries media portrayals of gays.

[terrya]

Apparently, JPII thinks we should go back to portraying gay people as psychotic murderers and child molesters. I'm not quite sure why I still get upset over this crap...it's the same old stuff from the catholic church.

Pope Slams 'Detrimental' Media Portrayal of Sex

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope John Paul attacked television on Saturday for its light-hearted portrayal of sex and said positive images in the media of homosexuality and contraception were bad for society.

The pope urged parents to impose limits on what their child watched and warned that modern media could be destructive.

"Infidelity (and) sexual activity outside of marriage are depicted uncritically, while positive support is at times given to divorce, contraception, abortion and homosexuality," the 83-year-old pontiff said.

"Such portrayals...are detrimental to the common good of society," he added, in a message to mark the Roman Catholic Church's upcoming world communications day.

His comments were likely to raise hackles in the gay community just days after a Belgian cardinal said the vast majority of gays and lesbians were "sexual perverts."

Concerned that many Catholics have strayed from traditional teachings, John Paul has used his 25-year pontificate to wage an unflagging battle against abortion, contraception, pre-marital sex, divorce and the breakdown of traditional family values.

The pope said on Saturday that the media had an enormous potential to be a good influence but said parents needed to regulate what their children were watching.

"This would include strictly limiting the time children devote to media...putting some media entirely off limits and periodically excluding all of them for the sake of other family activities," he said.

[ButterflyBlood]

1. screwing little boys isn't the problem...

TV is!

:eyes:

[terrya]

2. I find it very interesting that they don't decry the level of violence

in the media. Silly me, but I have this weird idea that seeing Ah-nuld in a movie blasting away scores of people with an AK-47 is more destructive than "Will and Grace". But again, that's just me...

Terry

[bpcmxr]

3. Amen, Terry.

Can I get another?

[ldf]

19. AMEN!

from a queer atheist.

:-)

[greekspeak]

22. I have noticed this as well

The old Christian Broadcasting Network of Pat Robertson (is it still around?) would decry this and that and the other and whine incessantly about the awful things in the media, then put on westerns and other movies full of violence. After all, the good guys (white men in their white hats) won. Two-faced hypocrites.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. He's covering the majority of the world

"Infidelity, sexual activity outside of marriage, divorce, contraception, abortion and homosexuality"

Most people have tried/used/are at least one of those, without shame.

If it was the Pope (and many say his 'pronouncements' just come from the bureaucracy around him these days), it's just the bitter moaning of someone who doesn't share the view of the rest of the world.

[Bush loves Jiang]

29. If this is the Poland that JP2 wants, bring back the Brezhnev Puppets...

:puke:

[MrSlayer]

5. Why a man in a dress would attack gays is curious to me.

Anyone else?

[Dr Fate]

6. John Paul needs a "Fab 5" makeover...

maybe they could lend this guy their sense of humor too...

The pope is generally an honorable fellow, but I have to disagree with him here...

[ulysses]

7. **beats head against wall**

I have to say that Catholics frustrate me politically. I realized the other day that many of my progressive icons who are religious are Catholics - Roy Bourgeois, Thomas Merton, others. Hell, the Catholic protesters I encountered when I was a clinic escort (who just stood off to the side, praying) were more tolerable than the Protestants (I'll never forget the little fuck who got in my face, repeatedly flicking the spring on the magazine to an automatic pistol). I've admired John Paul at times in the past.

Then there comes unadulterated shit like this.

[Dr Fate]

8. You should have pressed charges against that maniac...

Pointing even an unloaded gun at you is assault by definition- "next time" you should press charges...

[ulysses]

9. wasn't the gun, just the magazine.

He seemed disappointed when I didn't run away screaming. :D Weasely fuck.

[arcane1]

10. typical sick obsession with sex, not a word about violence

typical, oh so typical

sex is the biggest problem "society" faces? Please...

how many actual words did Jesus speak about sex, gayness, etc?

Clean up your own house first, mr Pope, before you go sniffing in my bedroom...

and to think these loons get a seat at the UN!

[mlawson]

20. Jesus spoke not one word about homosexuality.

But, hey, so what?????? His 'followers' obviously know FAR more about the subject than He did (does). :eyes:

[demothinker]

11. Are there any who still think the Pope is relevant anymore?

Besides the hard-core catholics, that is? Even most American catholics mostly regard the Pope as a figurehead rather than a moral guide these days.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[arcane1]

13. Amen, Dr W!

I would never trust a man, who takes a vow of celibacy, to lecture me about sex and marriage. He is the LEAST QUALIFIED PERSON ON EARTH to discuss these topics...

[Cleita]

14. Everytime we make some headway in equality for all

humans, the Church comes in and takes us backward to the Middle Ages. It's the same for women.

[arcane1]

15. all part of the plan...

women have been getting too 'uppity' for many of these troglodites, and they are pissed they they are no longer in charge like they used to be

seems it's ALL sex with them, doesn't it?

[youngred]

17. yes its always that damn church

stepping in in EVERY case of equality for all.

:eyes:

[phrenzy]

16. Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson could have just as easily written this pathetic garbage.

[mike1963]

18. Fu*k a bunch of popes.

:grr:

[Malva Zebrina]

21. Poor Pope

trying to resurrect the hatred against the gays and women who want to control their own families.

Tch Tch--life in the exceptionally rich and well endowed Vatican must be getting boring. So now we take on the fringe people and condemn them--namely the gays and women.

How about the white robed, pink, silk slippered, Popey, beatify another saintly person who seeks to marginalize other human beings who pose no threat to anyone?

--um how about we suggest to the Pope that he nominate George Bush for sainthood!???\ I know we do not have say, as the Vatican is not a democracy, but we can at least try.

Bush is doing everything he can to give tax payer money to the Catholic schools, And that is just a wonderful miracle! It will be praised from every pulpit of that particular church, of course. And that means it will be influential in the vote, stealthy and disrespectful as it is.

He, George Bush, must be nominated for sainthood by this Pope! And if he is, that will bring a whole lot of, a whole lot of, I repeat, money into the Vatican from the corpoations that drive George Bush.

That ougta get him a sainthood from the Pope.

[theHandpuppet]

23. Here's a suggestion...

Since His Holiness is on such a crusade to condemn gays, I suggest we initiate a public petition that he remove all works by gay artists from the Vatican museums and chapels.

Yes, John Paul, since gays are such supposed abominations in the eyes of your God, please do remove the paintings, sculptures and frescos of Botticelli, Michelangelo, Donatello, Cellini, Raphael, Leonardo Da Vinci, David, Delacroix and Correggio, among many others, from the Vatican's vast collections. Yes, auction off the works of these worthless, morally depraved "perverts", since certainly they must have no place in such sacred places of worship. The billions the church could generate from the sale of the works of these hellbound "perverts" could feed and clothe millions of hungry children around the world.

And while you're at it, John Paul, I don't expect to be hearing any performances of Beethoven's mass in your places of worship. If you don't want to be a hypocrite, then sweep us out of your own house first. All of us, now, including those whose works of artistic genius that you horde in your galleries could not possibly have sprung from talents blessed by the Creator.

[arcane1]

24. oddly, the Bible condemns homosexual behaviour...

(Jesus' penchant for cuddling notwithstanding), so obviously it's been around for a LONG time... yet they are lately blaming gayness on modern electronic media...

which came first?

[theHandpuppet]

26. I'm a bit confused...

Are you actually asking me if homosexuality is a "modern phenomenon", as it were? Perhaps I'm misinterpreting your remarks.

[arcane1]

27. it was more of a rhetorical question...

I just have a hard time with their notion that modern media is sending some kind of homosexual "message", when we have had homosexuals throughout history, that somehow didn't need that mass message...

we have gayness represented in entertainment media because gays are a part of society; they were already here, long before Will & Grace... just seems that the Church has a cause-and-effect problem...

[corporatewhore]

25. I wish media would portray gays differently it is always

the affluent white guy I wish they would have shows with say a bi latina having difficulty finding her place in a community rooted in the predjudices of CATHOLISIM

[Woodstock]

28. The pope is immoral - I don't listen to anything he has to say

The pope is costing so many lives lost and causing so much suffering among men, women, and children with his condom ban in the third world (along with his immoral partner in this ban, one George W. Bush.) I can't give someone who would do something so horrible any credence.

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20031103&s=pollitt

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml%3Fi=20030203&s=block