Catholic Church? No thanks!

By Giulio Zambon
Copyright 2011 Giulio Zambon
Smashwords Edition
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Table of Contents
What is this about?
It's a iracle!
!inches of "aith
Thou shall not###
Se$
% Soldier of Christ
% Touch of Class
&o forth and multi'l(
!rocessions
%bout the %uthor
What is this about?
% grew up in %taly& which like (rance& Spain& )ortugal& %reland& *atin +merica& the )hilippines& and
many other countries& is predominantly Catholic"
*ike almost e$ery other %talian& % was baptised when % was a baby& and unwillingly became member o
the Catholic Church" % was a happy#go#lucky baby& but when the parson dropped blessed water on my
head& according to my mother& % started crying" +pparently& many babies don,t like the sudden splash
o cold water on their head" But % like to think that my reasons or crying went deeper than that" % like
to think that % protested the only way could against being baptised"
%t took me almost si-ty years& but inally& in .o$ember 200/& % managed to ha$e recorded in the
parish were % had been baptised& that % was no longer part o the Catholic Church" % oicially became
an apostate& e-communicated" 0ou can read the details o that act o sel liberation in my blog
1giulio2ambon"blogspot"com320103103i#am#apostate"html4"
.ow& a couple o years later& % eel again the urge to e-press my dissent with the Catholic Church" %
am an +theist& and as such& % ha$e no sympathy or religious mo$ements& organised or not" 5egardless
o what you and % might think about 6ar-,s ideas& he got something right when& in 1789& stated that
:5eligion is the opium o the people:"
%ndeed& like opium& religion distorts the reality that surrounds you and makes you orget your daily
lie" 5eligion is harmul to clear thinking and a traditional enemy o Science& because it e-pects you
to belie$e what cannot be either pro$ed or dispro$ed"
% ha$e collected in this short book some o the e-periences % had with the Church o$er the years& and
some thoughts about it" % hope you will en!oy it"
;hy should you pay a dollar to read it< Because i you are not e$en prepared to pay a dollar or it&
you might as well lea$e it" There is enough stu a$ailable or ree on the %nternet"""
It's a iracle!
;ith one miracle to your credit& you become blessed= with two& you become a saint" Till the 6iddle
+ges& the Catholic Church recognised miracles in a >uite hapha2ard way" ;ith the passing o
centuries& though& the process o beatiication 1recognition o a person as being :blessed:4 and
canonisation 1recognition o sanctity4 has become more stringent" .owadays& it in$ol$es a lot o uss&
because the Church wants to be sure that a miraculous e$ent cannot be e-plained scientiically" The
last reorm o the process was made by )ope ?ohn )aul %% in 1/79 and in$ol$es a @e$il,s +d$ocate&
whose task it to try to pro$e that an apparently miraculous e$ent wasn,t a miracle at all"
Three main criteria need to be satisied or an e$ent to be recognised as a miracleA
1" %t is scientiically une-plainable"
2" %t is linked to the inter$ention o a person& called the :Ser$ant o God:"
9" The Ser$ant o God must be o Beroic Cirtue" That is& it must be pro$en that DsEhe e-hibited
to a heroic degree 1whate$er that means4 the theological $irtues o aith& hope and charity& and
the cardinal $irtues o prudence& !ustice& ortitude and temperance"
Fb$iously& that current Science cannot e-plain an e$ent doesn,t mean that the e$ent will remain
une-plainable ore$er" %t can be saely assumed that many 1i not most4 o the miracles o the past
would be perectly e-plainable today" % am not aware o any process o :miracle re$ision: and don,t
e-pect that it will e$er be introduced" ;ho would like to see saints stripped o their sanctity status<
The closest thing to :desanctiication: is what happened during the Second Catican Council 1started
by pope ?ohn GG%%% in 1/H2 and completed by pope )aul C% in 1/HI4" The Council decided to remo$e
se$eral saints rom the oicial calendar o the Church" But it stopped short o the demoting them to
blessed or e$en mere mortals"
)oint 9 is what makes impossible or the ma!ority o people to become saints" %t implies that there
cannot be :par$enu: saintsA either you put in the hard work consistently throughout your lie or you
can orget it" That,s why people like El$is )resley and ?ohn *ennon 1or +dolph Bitler and ?oseph
Stalin4 ha$e no chance o e$er be sanctiied& e$en i & % am sure& many thousands o people in the
western world would be perectly happy to $enerate them in a church" .o doubt& this is the clause that
allows the Church to get rid o the :undesirables:"
But e$en i you are prepared to accept that a healing or some other wondrous e$ent was caused by
Godly inter$ention and that the Ser$ant o God you prayed to was o Beroic Cirtue& you still need to
con$ince the Church that it was the intercession o that particular person that mo$ed God to act"
This is where (aith 1note the capital (4 comes into play"
(or e-ample& the miracle that ga$e ?ohn )aul %% the :blessed: status concerned a nun with a seriously
debilitating orm o )arkinson,s @isease" She was completely and permanently cured ater members o
her community prayed or the intercession o )ope ?ohn )aul %%"
@o miracle still happen<
F course they doJ 1wink& wink4
% still remember when& years ago& % was sitting in a plane about to depart rom )aris& (rance and bound
or Chicago& %llinois" 6y inal destination was 5aleigh& .orth Carolina& but % had to change plane in
Chicago& because there were no direct lights rom )aris to 5aleigh" The de#icing o the wings on the
apron o Frly& ollowing a surprise o$ernight storm& kept going on or ages" Bow was % going to make
the connection<
% arri$ed in Chicago with only twenty minutes to spare" .o way % could still catch the light to
5aleigh"
But wait a minuteA my connecting light was late tooJ +merica +irlines rushed me through passport
control& put me on a bus& and whisked me across the tarmac to the waiting plane" %ncredibleJ
@amn& damn& damnJ % had orgotten to pray to my a$ourite saint" @iicult to claim that % had been
sa$ed by a miracle" +h well& there will be other times"""
!inches of "aith
%n %taly& since the treaty o 1/2/ stipulated by 6ussolini,s (ascist State with )ope )ius G%& all
classrooms o all public schools display a crucii-" The %talian 5epublic& proclaimed in 1/8H ater the
end o ;orld ;ar %%& kept the treaty in orce"
The crucii- hangs at the wall behind the teacher,s desk& beside a picture o the current %talian
president" %n act& the treaty doesn,t make it compulsory& and since 1/7I& when a modiied $ersion o
the treaty came into orce& Catholicism is no longer the oicial religion o the %talian state"
.e$ertheless& despite a growing mo$ement aimed at remo$ing it& the crucii- remains in place"
+s a result o the same treaty& the syllabuses o all %talian public schools include a weekly hour
dedicated to the teachings o the catholic religion" That,s rightA all students attending public schools&
between the age o si- and eighteen& are indoctrinated into Catholicism" %t adds up to around i$e
hundred hours"
The parents can re>uest their children to be e-empted rom the hour o religion& but the social
pressure not to do it is substantial"
% don,t recall my mother and my grandmother e$er attending mass& and my ather walked into church
on Sunday !ust or a ew minutes& on his way to the pastry shop" That aith in God played no role
within my amily certainly made my embracing o atheism easier" The message % got rom my parents
was that knowledge& not aith& was key to a better uture"
6y parents had only eight years o schooling& but they $alued education" Their goal was to see me
through uni$ersity& and they encouraged me to read and learn as much as possible"
+nd yet& although religion was eecti$ely absent rom my amily,s lie& my parents ne$er considered
the possibility o taking me out o the weekly hours o Catholicism" %t was simply not doneJ
The two teachers % had during my primary school years were (ranciscan monks" They were both >uite
portly& with the ront o their rocks pulled up by their substantial bellies"
Two e$ents that took place during those hours o religion conirmed my de$eloping scepticism
towards Catholicism" % must ha$e been eight o nine years old& although % cannot be entirely sure"
The irst e$ent was a class discussion about lo$e and lo$ing God" The teacher said that we had to
return God,s lo$e with our unconditional lo$e" % we didn,t& he continued& we would commit a capital
sin and be condemned to hell" % immediately raised my right arm to attract the teacher,s attention"
;hen allowed to speak& % stood up beside my desk and askedA :0ou said that we must lo$e God& but
how can we control whom we lo$e< *o$e is a sentiment& and either we eel it or we don,t" ;hy should
we be punished or not eeling something<:
%n hindsight not surprisingly& he didn,t like my >uestion" Be said that i % accepted God and his
ininite goodness& it would be impossible or me not to lo$e him"
% sat down& but remained uncon$inced" % don,t know what % thought then& but % know what % would
think nowA his argument only changed the root o the problem but didn,t pro$ide any solution" E$en
admitting that to accept God is to lo$e him& how could % orce mysel to accept him< +nd i % cannot
orce mysel& why should % be punished or not succeeding< ;here is !ustice in such a punishment<
+ll religious proos& as they cannot rely on scientiic e$idence& are necessarily based on tautologies
and circularities" The pinnacle o such so#called proos was probably reached with the ontological
proo o the e-istence o GodA :% God is a perect being& Be must necessarily e-ist& otherwise&
without e-istence& Be would not be perect": But similar arguments& more or less disguised& are
routinely used to ake a $alidation o religious doctrine"
The other e$ent % remember rom my early hours o religion at school in$ol$ed the same teacher& but
was o a completely dierent nature" Be used to call students to the ront o the class to answer
>uestions o catechism& one at a time" The student stood in ront o the blackboard and aced the
teacher" Sometimes& the teacher told the student to stand beside him& acing the class rom behind his
desk" %n those occasions the teacher& using his desk as a hiding screen& repeatedly pinched the student
on his backside" % don,t know how oten it happened& but % am certain it did& as it was common
knowledge within the class"
Fnce& ater being called to the ront& % was told to step behind the teacher,s desk& but % reused" %
couldn,t let him pinch my arse& could %<
Catholicism& as % saw it& was wrong at all le$els" The commandments were illogical because they
e-pected me to control sentiments and thoughts& and the ministers o the aith were bad because they
wanted to pinch my bottom"
;hen % was a boy& in the 1/I0s and early 1/H0s& it elt as e$erybody in %taly was catholic" % know that
there were minorities o ?ews and ollowers o other religions& but % ne$er came into contact with
them" % don,t recall that any o my schoolmates was e$er e-empted rom attending the hours o
religion"
Thou shall not###
+ lot could be said about the ten commandments& but my purpose here is to compare the
commandments as they are ormulated in English& German& %talian& Spanish& and (rench" 0ou might
be surprised to ind out that they are not e-actly the sameJ The English $ersion o the commandments
is somehow the least restricti$e o the i$e" ;hy these i$e languages< Because they are the only ones
% understand" ;ho knows how the commandments are in& say& Swahili& or Bungarian"
The ten commandments appear three times in the BibleA in E-odus 20A2K1L& E-odus 98A11K2L& and
@euteronomy IAHK21" The oicial catholic $ersion o the commandments is a$ailable online in the
catechism pages published by the Catican" Go to the ollowing links or English& German& %talian&
Spanish& and (rench"
Below is the list o the ten commandments in all i$e languages 1spelling and capitalisation o the
English $ersion o the commandments ha$e been let as in the original on the Catican,s website4" %
ha$e highlighted the signiicant dierences"
Commandment )
EnglishA % +m the *ord 0our God& 0ou Shall .ot Ba$e Fther Gods Beore 6e"
GermanA 0ou shall belie$e in one God 1@u sollst keine anderen GMtter neben mir haben4"
%talianA % am the *ord your GodA you shall not ha$e other Gods other than me 1%o sono il Signore @io
tuoA .on a$rai altro @io uori di me4"
SpanishA 0ou shall lo$e God abo$e e$erything 1+marNs a @ios sobre todas las cosas4"
(renchA 0ou shall adore and completely lo$e one God 1On seul @ieu tu adoreras et aimeras
paraitement4"
Commandment *
EnglishA 0ou Shall .ot Take the .ame o the *ord 0our God in Cain"
GermanA 0ou shall not dishonour the name o God 1@u sollst den .amen Gottes nicht $erunehren4"
%talianA 0ou shall not take the name o God in $ain 1.on nominare il nome di @io in$ano4"
SpanishA 0ou shall not take the name o God in $ain 1.o tomarNs el nombre de @ios en $ano4"
(renchA 0ou shall respect Bis holy name& leeing rom blasphemous and alse oaths 1Son saint nom tu
respecteras& uyant blasphPme et au- serment4"
Commandment +
EnglishA 5emember to Qeep Boly the *ord,s @ay"
GermanA 0ou shall hold holy the *ord,s day 1@u sollst den Tag des Berrn heiligen4"
%talianA 5emember to hallow the holidays 15icordati di santiicare le este4"
SpanishA 0ou shall hallow the holidays 1SantiicarNs las iestas4"
(renchA Fbser$e the *ord,s day& de$outly ser$ing God 1*e !our du Seigneur garderas& en ser$ant @ieu
dR$otement4"
Commandment ,
EnglishA Bonour 0our (ather and 0our 6other"
GermanA 0ou shall honour your ather and your mother& so that you will li$e on earth longer and
better 1@u sollst Cater 6utter& und 6utter ehren4"
%talianA 0ou shall honour your ather and your mother 1Fnora tuo padre e tua madre4"
SpanishA 0ou shall honour your ather and your mother 1BonrarNs a tu padre y a tu madre4"
(renchA 0ou shall honour your ather and your mother& as well as your superiors 1Tes pPre et mPre
honoreras& tes supRrieurs pareillement4"
Commandment -
EnglishA 0ou Shall .ot Qill"
GermanA 0ou shall not kill 1@u sollst nicht tMten4"
%talianA 0ou shall not kill 1.on uccidere4"
SpanishA 0ou shall not kill 1.o matarNs4"
(renchA 0ou shall a$oid murder and scandals, as well as hate and anger 16eurtre et scandale
R$iteras& haine et colPre pareillement"
Commandment .
EnglishA 0ou Shall .ot Commit +dultery4"
GermanA You shall not act unchaste 1@u sollst nicht ehebrechen4"
%talianA You shall not commit impure acts 1.on commettere atti impuri4"
SpanishA You shall not commit impure acts 1.o cometerNs actos impuros4"
(renchA You shall carefully practice purity 1*a puretR obser$eras en tes actes soigneusement4"
Commandment /
EnglishA 0ou Shall .ot Steal4"
GermanA 0ou shall not steal 1@u sollst nicht stehlen4"
%talianA 0ou shall not steal 1.on rubare4"
SpanishA 0ou shall not steal 1.o robarNs4"
(renchA 0ou shall not take or un!ustly keep goods rom others 1*e bien d,autrui tu ne prendras& ni
retiendras in!ustement4"
Commandment 0
EnglishA 0ou Shall .ot Bear (alse ;itness +gainst 0our .eighbour"
GermanA 0ou shall not bear alse witness 1@u sollst nicht alsch gegen deinen .Schsten aussagen4"
%talianA 0ou shall not bear alse witness 1.on dire alsa testimonian2a4"
SpanishA 0ou shall not bear alse witness or lie 1.o dirNs also testimonio ni mentirNs4"
(renchA 0ou shall ban alse witness and lies 1*a mRdisance banniras& et le mensonge Rgalement4"
Commandment 1
EnglishA 0ou Shall .ot Co$et 0our .eighbour,s ;ie"
GermanA 0ou shall not co$et your neighbour,s wie 1@u sollst nicht begehren deines .Schsten (rau4"
%talianA You shall not covet the woman of others 1.on desiderare la donna d,altri4"
SpanishA You shall not allow impure thoughts and desires 1.o consentirNs pensamientos ni deseos
impuros4"
(renchA In thought, you shall be watchful and remain entirely pure in your desires 1En pensRes&
dRsirs $eilleras T rester pur entiPrement4"
Commandment )2
EnglishA 0ou Shall .ot Co$et 0our .eighbour,s )ossessions"
GermanA 0ou shall not co$et your neighbour,s goods 1@u sollst nicht begehren deines .Schsten Gut4"
%talianA 0ou shall not co$et the goods o others 1.on desiderare la roba d,altri4"
SpanishA 0ou shall not co$et your neighbour,s goods 1.o codiciarNs nada >ue sea de tu prU!imo4"
(renchA 0ou shall not desire to obtain the goods o others dishonestly 1Bien d,autrui ne con$oiteras
pour l,a$oir malhonnVtement4"
3ifferences
The act that the ten commandments are dierent depending on the language in which they are
e-pressed is in itsel >uite odd" Consider or e-ample the ninth commandment" % you are rom *atin
+merica or Spain& you are not allowed to ha$e :dirty thoughts:" But i your nati$e language is
English& the ninth commandment only orbids you to desire someone else,s wie" % the woman you
are imagining to undress is unmarried& go ahead" .o problem thereJ
The dierences between the commandments in $arious languages are the more surprising when you
consider that the Catican is a ully centralised organisation& especially or matters o doctrine"
%n any case& or once& heterose-ual women seem to ha$e it easier& because they can desire any man
they ancy& regardless o whether he is married or not" Similarly& gay men are ree to co$et any man
they like" +t the $ery least& the catholic church should consider making the commandments gender#
neutral" But they are not good at this type o things& are they<
(rench#speaking people are the worst o" They commit capital sins i they ail to respect their
superiors 18th4& openly go against the current customs 1Ith4& or get angry 1Ith4" % let you !udge the
wisdom o such additional constraints" %n any case& % li$ed in (rance or one and a hal years& and you
can trust me when % tell you that the (rench seem to get angry as easily as anybody else" That should
keep the conessionals well ull"
The Hth commandment has a special signiicance or me" 0ou see& % was born and grew up in %taly"
There& like in Spain and in (rance& the Hth orbids much more than adultery" %t becomes a tool o
se-ual repression& because it orbids any se-ual acti$ity not considered to be pure" That is& not
directed at procreating within a marriage" %n particular& it also condemns masturbation" % ind it
ridiculous that Southern European Catholics commit a mortal sin when they masturbate& while their
+nglo#Sa-on co#religionary don,t"
Se$
To state the ob$ious 1something % lo$e and am particularly good at4& the Catholic Church has serious
problems with se-uality" ;hy shouldn,t the clergy be able to marry< % am pretty sure that i priests
could marry& they would ha$e less propensity towards se-ually abusing the children that are placed in
their care"
Traditionally& when the %talians were much more proliic than they are now& there was in each amily
either a girl that entered a con$ent or a boy that went to seminary" This was especially true in poor
amilies& where one less mouth to eed made a dierence"
There was no problem then in keeping the ranks o the clergy well stocked"
But some decades ago& the whole society was more repressed than it is now" 6ost people had their
irst se-ual e-periences in their late teens or e$en later" %n act& up to when % was completing high
school& it was not uncommon or young men and women to be $irgin in their twenties"
Thereore& at least in %taly& the dierence between lie at home and lie in a con$ent& rom the point o
$iew o se-ual e-periences& was not $ery dramatic" Sure enoughA seminarists were not supposed to
talk or e$en think about se- in any orm& but practical se- was beyond the reach o most teenagers
anyway"
There were no --- websites then& and the ew :girly: maga2ines were sold in sealed en$elopes and
only to adults" ;hen % was in my early teens& the dancers o TC programmes had to wear ull black
stockings that hid e$ery centimetre o leg skin" Thread panties were still ar beyond the hori2on"
Today& it has become impossible to a$oid being bombarded by se-y images& and many 1most<4
youngsters& when they reach their teens& ha$e already had se-ual e-periences in one orm or another"
%t doesn,t surprise me that always ewer people are prepared to commit themsel$es to a lie o chastity"
% they enter the clergy& they ha$e much more reedom to lose than their parents or grandparents"
;hen will the Church understand that they ha$e to adapt i they don,t want to keep closing churches
or lack o ollowers and or lack o priests<
+nd then& o course& there is the problem o homose-uality" The )ope and Co" ha$e still to realise that
they are condemning to eternal damnation millions o people simply or wanting to li$e in a lo$ing
relationship"""
% Soldier of Christ
The catholic church administers se$en sacramentsA baptism& conirmation& Eucharist3Communion&
conession& anointing o the sick& holy orders& and matrimony"
The last two are partially e-clusi$e& as one can marry and then recei$e the holy orders but not $ice#
$ersa& and anointing o the sick is mostly administered as e-treme unction& when people are e-pected
to die" Osually& most sacraments are recei$ed only once in a lietime& with the e-ception o conession
and Eucharist" The catholic church e-pects its ollowers to attend mass& coness& and recei$e the
Eucharist at least once a week" Some do it more oten than that& but most Catholics are slack and let
weeks and months pass without attending mass" +t least& that is what % saw in %taly& where e$erybody
is a catholic but the churches are seldom ull"
+lthough % was baptised& % was raised as a $ery bad catholic" % don,t recall my parents and my
grandmother 1who li$ed with us4 e$er entering a conessional or melting a holy waer in their mouths"
@espite the e$ident indierence o my parents towards Catholicism& they still elt the social pressure
o relati$es and ac>uaintances to ulil the role o proper catholic parents" %n %taly& were % grew up& the
tradition is to recei$e the irst communion beore inishing primary school& between the age o se$en
and ten" 6ost boys wear or that occasion their irst suit& while the girls dress completely in white&
with what appears to be scaled down $ersions o wedding gowns" + lot o uss is made around the
children& and on Spring Sundays& one can see se$eral o them proudly walk around all dressed up& like
mini#brides and grooms"
Together with irst communion& it si also tradition to recei$e the sacrament o conirmation" + bishop
tips his thumb in blessed oil and anoints with it the orehead o the conirmand" +ter that& the
conirmation sponsor 1e>ui$alent to what a godparent is or baptism4 knots around the head o the
newly conirmed a white silky band with golden embroidery" The band is later mo$ed rom the head
o the conirmed to one o his3her arms"
6y parents& perhaps not surprising& dragged their eet& and % reached the age o twel$e without ha$ing
gone through the ceremonies o irst communion and conirmation" The oicial reason or the delay
was that the my designated sponsor& an uncle rom Tuscany& didn,t ha$e the time or a trip to 5ome&
where my amily li$ed"
+nyhow& to prepare or the ceremony& % had to learn by heart the answers to one hundred >uestions
about Catholicism" Today& almost hal a century later& % still remember the irst ewA Who created us?
God created us" Who is God? God is the very perfect DsicE being, creator and lord of heaven and
earth" What does "very perfect" means? """ + $ery good >uestion indeed"""
To learn the catechism& % had to ollow the lessons o a parish teacher" E$ery Sunday morning& %
walked to our parish& attended mass& went through an hour o catechism teaching& ate a snack& and
watched a ilm"
%t was a real e-ercise in indoctrination& designed to brainwash the children by hammering into their
pliable minds a lot o nonsense" Clearly& the endless repetition o doctrine in >uestion#answer orm
had the purpose o pre#empt criticism and >uestioning"
(inally& ater months o catechism classes& % was ready& e$en i % wasn,t particularly e-cited at the
prospect o becoming a :soldier o Christ:" But there was a catch" The catechism classes % had
attended were generic& not speciically designed to prepare or the irst communion" So it happened
that when % went with my parents to the parish priest& he said that % had to attend the proper classes
beore he could authorise me to take the irst communion"
+s you ha$e perhaps guessed& % categorically reused" +t twel$e& % was already a big boy" % % had
attended the communion classes& % would ha$e been surrounded by small boys& who would ha$e not
missed an opportunity to mock me" % would ha$e elt like Gulli$er in *illiput" Besides& % already knew
all the answers by heart"
The priest was being unreasonable" Be thought he could muscle me3us into submission& but he was
wrong" % remember telling my parents that i it was so diicult to recei$e the irst communion& or
what % cared about it& % could well stay without it" +nd& to their credit& they accepted it without any
discussion" They were also annoyed at the stubborn priest"
But % still got my grey suit made to si2e& and when my uncle 1actually& the husband o my mother,s
cousin4 came to 5ome& % recei$ed my conirmation" ;e went to Greater Saint 6ary& a big cathedral
ull o rescoes and marble& where the bishop did his !ob" 6y uncle ga$e me a Swiss watch as present"
%t was a *ongines& and it kept working like a charm until % lost it a decade later"
+ter the Sundays o catechism classes& % ne$er went back to our parish to attended mass& and ne$er
met again with the priest" Bis lossJ
The unny thing is that& despite all the uss& nobody e$er though o asking me whether % had conessed
my sins beore recei$ing the conirmation" ;ell& % hadn,t" ;ithout conession and irst communion&
my conirmation was ne$er actually $alid" %n act& it was almost certainly a desecration o the
sacrament"
% Touch of Class
% don,t think or a second that we are all e>ual& either physically or intellectually& although physical
appearances and intellectual and moral capabilities are not related with each other" ;e were all born
with dierent innate capabilities in all ields o human acti$ities" Then& ater birth& the way in which
we were educated& both at home and at school& and the opportunities that our respecti$e societies
made a$ailable or us meant that we could achie$e our potential to $ery dierent degrees"
6oreo$er& as we don,t ully e-ploit our brains& the act that a woman,s brain on a$erage weighs 12W
less than a man,s brain doesn,t result in any systematic dierence o intellectual capabilities between
the se-es"
The catholic church claims that we are all e>ual beore god& but sees no problems in being se-ist and
classist"
The most ob$ious discrimination is that women cannot be ordained as priests and celebrate mass& and
this has proound implications" The catholic mass is more than a ceremony& because in it& according to
catholic doctrine& the celebrant changes the substance o wine and bread into that o the blood and
body o ?esus Christ" The inability o perorming this process& called transubstantiation& condemns the
nuns to be second class members o the catholic clergy" + nun can become mother superior o a
con$ent& but will always submit to male members o the hierarchy"
% you ha$e e$er seen how nuns beha$e when a priest is present& you will know what % mean" They
scoot like chickens around a rooster"
%n more than one occasion& the popes ?ohn )aul % and %% ha$e reerred to god as a mother as well as a
ather" )ope Benedict GC% reminded us that ?esus reerred to god as his ather& but also e-pressed the
$iew that god is beyond male and emale" %n any case& regardless o the oicial $iew o the church&
the catholic god is uni$ersally seen as a man" That,s why the comments o pope ?ohn )aul % started
heated discussions in the %talian press o 1/L7"
+nd consider thisA nuns are married to god and wear a wedding ring" Ba$e you e$er heard the concept
that priests are married to god<
The catholic church is also deeply classist& especially or what concerns the nuns" There are some
religious orders that re>uire to bring a substantial dowry" Fb$iously& you cannot enter those orders
unless you are inancially well o" % know this or a act& because one o my ather,s aunt had to
donate a good dowry in order to enter the order o the Canossians" She was then allowed to keep her
hair and didn,t need to perorm lowly !obs"
Fn the other hand& i you enter one o the poorer orders and cannot bring anything with you& you are
re>uired to sha$e your head and are usually conined to be a simple labourer or the rest o your lie"
+nother e-ample o classism is in how at least some catholic schools are organised" (or e-ample& the
Orsuline sisters& who operate a large school in 5ome& %taly& split the classes in two groups& one o
which attract high ees" Both my mother and my older sister attended that school& but my grandmother
couldn,t pay high ees or my mother,s schooling" +s a result& my mother went to the poor branch o
the school" ;hen the time came or my sister to go to school& my parents were able to send her to the
richer branch o the same school" .ot only did the girls o the two groups attended dierent classes
and wore dierent uniorms" They didn,t e$en mingle between classes"
&o forth and multi'l(
6ost religions encourage their ollowers to ha$e many children" %t makes senseA the more ollowers a
religion has& the more donations and oerings it recei$es and the more inluence on politics and
society it gains"
The Catholic Church& like all organised religions& resembles a li$ing organismA it doesn,t !ust want to
sur$i$e" %t wants to grow& be stronger and healthier& and& ultimately& li$e ore$er" +nd let,s ace itA i
their god is the only real one and ollowing their doctrine is the only way to sa$e your soul rom an
eternity o punishment& they are actually doing you a a$our by :showing you the light: and
:welcoming you into their lock:J
+s ar as % know& human beings are the only animals that can ha$e and are interested in ha$ing se-
283L" Buman emales don,t ha$e oestrus like other mammals" +lthough they are ertile about one day
out o our& with the right partner& women are happy to copulate e$ery day" Buman males& on their
part& ind the emales always attracti$e 1% read somewhere that women in their ertile days become
more se-ually attracti$e& but it might be untrue and& in any case& wouldn,t change the point % am trying
to make4"
+s e$olution goes& this decoupling o se- and ertility must ha$e a$oured the sur$i$al o our ar
ancestors& otherwise it would ha$e not come about" % ha$e no idea why it happened& but it is clearly
part o our natural make#up& like walking erect& ha$ing our eyes acing orward& and our nostrils
acing downward"
Then& why should abstinence be $irtuous< ;hy should se- only occur within a blessed union and or
the sole purpose o procreating< ;hy should ha$e god made us this way only to rustrate us with
chastity<
Clearly& it has only to do with control and powerA control o$er inheritance o property and power to
allow and orbid" +nd its corollary is ob$iousA sub!ugation o women"
Op to .o$ember 2010& the position o the Catholic Church on condoms was masterully e-pressed by
(r *awrence +bello& a ?esuit priest& in a letter to 6other Teresa o Calcutta 1who blessed him or it4A
:The use o a condom or whate$er reason is a moral e$il& i"e"& the $iolation o the Si-th
Commandment& whereas& death as such& e$en rom +%@S& is a physical e$il" The Catholic will accept
the Church's oicial teaching that& knowingly and willingly& to $iolate any o the Ten
Commandments always in$ol$es personal sin" Basing hersel on the true sense o the ininite e$il o
sin inasmuch as it is an oense against the %ninite God& and also basing hersel on the witnessing o
the martyrs& the Church teaches that no good end can e$er morally !ustiy the $iolation o any o the
Ten Commandments":
%n other words& using a condom is a capital sin& because it implies that you are ha$ing se- without the
intent o procreating"
+s an aside& % !ust noticed that +bello reers to the Church as :her:" .ow it,s clear to meA the nuns are
married to God& while the priests are married to the ChurchJ
%n .o$ember 2010& )ope Benedict GC% stated that :the Catholic Church is not undamentally against
the use o condoms": +t the $ery least& not to be hypocritical& he should ha$e said :no longer: instead
o :not:" Be stated that condoms can be acceptable in certain cases& or e-ample to protect a prostitute
rom B%C inection"
This implicitly means that the Catholic Church has not mo$ed away rom its :go orth and multiply:
idea" ;ho cares that the world population has reached se$en billions<
;ith all go$ernments preaching their mantra :growth& growth& growth: and the Catholic Church
unchanged in its $iews about se-uality& we are heading or disaster"
!rocessions
)rocessions are ritual religious parades" They are neither e-clusi$e to %taly nor to Catholicism& but it is
in %talian $illages and cities that the tradition o processions is most widely present"
+lmost e$ery $illage has a yearly procession to honour its saint patron" Some processions in$ol$e
thousands o people and some are e$en reported in the e$ening news"
The regular processions& organised by the clergy& oten in$ol$e a selected group o men carrying a
statue or a palan>uin containing relics o the saint to whom the procession is dedicated"
;hat is ama2ing in some o the processions that take place in %taly is the si2e o the ob!ects being
carried on the shoulders o the bearers" %t sounds almost as a orm o sel#inlicted torture& albeit less
se$ere than the lagellation and the cilice that were common during the 6iddle +ges"
(or e-ample& during the :(esta dei Ceri: 1east o the big candles4& which takes place in Gubbio& a
medie$al town in the central region o Ombria& e$ery 1I 6ay& three i$e#metres#long wooden
columns weighing around 900 kg each 1 the :Ceri:4 are carried by do2ens o people through the
narrow streets o the town" The incredible thing is that they runJ They ha$e to co$er more than our
kilometres with an up slope o around 1IW and they do it in about nine minutes"
The :Ceri: sway rom side to side and sometime hit the houses that lank the streets" %t is an incredible
eort and to be a bearer is considered a great honour" So much so& that two additional runs& with
smaller :Ceri:& are organised with adolescent and children as bearers"
+nother gruelling eort made in the name o God takes place in Citerbo& a small town about 70km
north o 5ome" There& e$ery 9 September& a tower thirty metres high and weighing appro-imately i$e
metric tons& is carried on the shoulders o about one hundred men" The route& longer than one
kilometre& goes through the streets o the town& which& at times& are $ery narrow"
%bout the %uthor
Giulio holds a doctorate in )hysics rom the Oni$ersity o 5ome 1%taly4& where he graduated cum
laude"
+ter a period o teaching Electrotechnics in a high school and a iteen#month stint in the technical
corps o the army& he !oined the computer industry" %n the ensuing thirty years& he worked as a
sotware de$eloper& system consultant& process impro$ement manager& pro!ect manager& and chie
operating oicer"
@uring his career in computing& Giulio wrote hundreds o technical reports and presented se$eral
courses and seminars"
Be published se$eral computing books and manuals and some Science (iction stories" The list o his
published work is at his website 2ambon"com"au" %n Fctober 2011& he released an application to play
Calcu@oku on the i)ad" 0ou can ind it in +pple,s iTunes store at calcudoku"app"
6ore about Giulio,s proessional career and interests is a$ailable in his personal website
giulio2ambon"org and in his blog 5esistance is utile"