Rot at the top

"Many women who do not dress modestly lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery on society, which increases earthquakes."

- Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedinghi, an Iranian Muslim cleric, blaming women for a spate of recent temblors around the globe

"(T)he feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."

– Pat Robertson

I think that we are all conditioned to believe that people in positions of authority and leadership know what they are doing. The world has to make some sense, doesn't it? Surely these people--whoever they are--must be intelligent and reasonable; after all, they are in a prominent position! Well, that ain't necessarily so, as these two quotations demonstrate--those are a couple of steel-trap minds! (Robertson is especially annoying, if only because I see his mug so often when I'm channel-surfing--how does he get so darn much exposure?)

The latest and rather interesting case: Christopher Hitchens, writing in the current Newsweek, makes the argument--and a rather strong one at that--for bringing up the Pope on criminal charges, given the protection which pedophiles have gotten within the Catholic Church, in some cases with the direct involvement of the Pope himself. Even yours truly, a skeptical heathen type, was surprised to encounter this point of view and to seriously entertain it for the first time. I mean, he's the Pope! How could a Pope be arrested for anything? The Pope sent off to prison for obstruction of justice? It's almost incomprehensible--that is, until you consider the utter humanity that we all share. The Pope is a guy named Joseph Ratzinger--call him "Joe" if you want, because he is in the end just an Ordinary Joe. He puts on his pants the same way you and I do. He trots into the bathroom in the morning to do the same things that you and I do (we share the same throne!). He gets spinach stuck between his teeth. And, like Misters Sedinghi and Robertson, cited above, he is no smarter than you or I; at times like these, notions of "papal inerrancy" seem particularly ridiculous.

There is rot at the top, my friends--and sometimes in the middle or at the bottom! Please help us avoid legitimized insanity in any way that you can.