Regarding the Pope and His Resignation

The BBC just reported that there's talk (consider it a very abstract discussion at most) of the pope resigning.  To this I say bullshit.

The pop, according to Catholics, has "papal infallibility".  This means that not only is he incapable of the possibility error when making formal statements but that the church is working god's will.  Well, Catholics, you can't have it both ways.  If he is your pope then he is essentially the living embodiment of god's knowledge and will on Earth.  You want the church to have authority then you can't pick and choose, especially amongst the most holy and important concepts of your own religion.  That means the pope never made a mistake.  When he ignored pleas to deal with a 200 count child rapist that was without error.  And just like an angel gets its wings whenever a bell rings, god's will is done through the church every time a child is raped or molested.  Because the pope and his judgment are exempt from error.

And that means that if you want to stick by your pope then you must confront the logical conclusion: god wants children to be raped and he doesn't want the predators to be punished.  Rather than focusing on what to do with the church Catholics should realize that their dogma states that there cannot be anything wrong with the church.  Rather, it is the laws saying these clergy members are bad that need to be changed.  As of now we are shown evidence through the church's actions that these laws protecting children are against god's will.

What?  Does that sound terrible?  Hey, it's Catholic dogma.  Take it up with their god, by way of its infallible hand on earth: the pope.

That's the problem with dogma and infallibility.  Human knowledge grows while dogma, by definition, has to remain stagnant and unyielding.  It has been pointed out that none of the numerous versions of the 10 commandments (yes, there are many different versions) contain a prohibition against incest or rape.  In fact, there are many accounts of incest and rape in both the Hebrew bible and the New Testament where these acts go unpunished, sometimes perpetrated by characters portrayed as righteous.  Some religions that follow these books also have doctrine in place that prevents the ruling bodies of these religions to be wrong.

Let's try this without judgment.  I'm not claiming the bibles are wrong, or that Catholicism is wrong.  In fact, I'm just saying that if you follow a religion that has eternal rules it is silly and stupid to become upset when these rules are followed.  Catholics, if you don't like child rape then maybe the Catholic church isn't the right set of dogmatic principles on which to model your life.  For better or worse the church has participated in the practice of mass child-rape and god has endorsed it by proxy when he participated in the rearrangement of the offenders rather than the removal of them.  According to papal infallibility child rape is now part of Catholic doctrine.

If this seems terrible to you then it simply means you're paying attention.  The logical conclusion is that Catholics now have a choice to make.  To me it seems like an easy one though I can understand why many would waver over it.  The choice is to be a good Catholic and accept the morality of child-rape OR to side against child-rape and leave the Catholic church.  And for those trying to find middle ground to stay with the church but still condemn these actions; that's ethically commendable (to an extent) but does make you a bad Catholic.  Don't get mad at me, papal infallibility was never my rule.