Thought For The Day: Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks

“I have fully understood the fear that gays have of prejudice and persecution.

“I fully understood, and I mention this pretty much every year, that gays, not just Jews, were sent to the concentration camps, and I did not want to become a voice that would be caught up in a very polarised debate and be seen to be heartless towards the gays in our own community. I am not heartless towards them, I really seek to understand them and they seek to understand where I am coming from.”

Interviewed in the Sunday Telegraph on his retirement. 

Sacks was explaining why, even though he thinks gay marriage is against Talmudic principle (Whatever that is), he stayed relatively quiet on the issue, as opposed to other religious leaders like say - ooh, let's pluck a name from the ether here... Cardinal O'Brien, who kept shouting from his church rooftop how very, very wrong it all was, until that is we found out he secretly digs dudes and kept hitting on young priests.

Oops!

In May Sacks told David Frost; “We have strongly defined sexual ethics in Judaism more than 3,000 years old. But I think religions should never seek to impose their view on society as a whole."
Which is fair enough, really.

Apart from that bit about taking something from the Iron Age as your moral compass.
Have to confess I have no idea what the chief has said about The Gays in the past - or indeed what he's said about anything, like Israel/Palestine and that - so apologies in advance if he thinks we'll all burn in the fires that consumed Sodom or something.

Cardinal O'Brien: Flaunting It

People are allowed to live their lives however they want. If O’Brien had just decided that he was going to hide the elementary facts of his life from everyone, and if the person he was, it is claimed, in a relationship with had decided that he, too, was going to exercise that degree of concealment, who would care? It was once necessary; for many people, the concealment continued through habit. That is the right of individuals.
But through a familiar quirk of personality, Cardinal O’Brien was drawn to comment on an ineradicable part of his own personality. One can well guess what the process was. Someone hates and fears a forbidden aspect of themselves, and is drawn ineluctably to talk about it, rather than remain silent on the subject. Foucault wrote an interesting series of books about the history of sexuality, in which he proposed that the 19th century placed a prohibition on sexuality, not to silence discussion of it, but so that they could go on talking endlessly about it. Similarly, O’Brien clearly suppressed public knowledge of his own sexuality so that he could go on talking indefinitely about homosexuality. Going on about how awful those gays are – that, I am afraid, counts as “flaunting it”...

Philip Hensher in The Independent.

By far the best and most sensible piece I've see on the archbishop's outing.
I was tempted to post it in full, but I'm sure you can cope with clicking on that link. 
There's a lot to his argument that if someone grew up in a culture of the closet, it's quite a spectacular achievement if anyone manages to break free of that mindset.
Unlike many gay men commenting on this sorry, sad farce, be it in the media, and in the real and virtual worlds, Hensher's article doesn't have the snotty subtext; "Why can't every gay men be as wonderful and perfect as I think I am?"

Cardinal O'Brien: Sorry

“In recent days, certain allegations which have been made against me have become public. 
“Initially, their anonymous and non-specific nature led me to contest them.
“However, I wish to take this opportunity to admit that there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal.”
"To those who I have offended, I apologise and ask forgiveness.
“To the Catholic Church and people of Scotland, I also apologise.
“I will now spend the rest of my life in retirement. I will play no further part in the public life of the Catholic Church in Scotland."

Cardinal Keith O'Brien fesses up in a statement.
Again, maybe we should see how fucked-up over the gay thing he was as a sign that he was another victim of our society's - and his church's - homophobia?
Oh, and the photo above of O'Brien kissing Pope John Paul II's ring while their hands meet on a large pink shaft was used by The Sun online.
Tee hee!

PS And while we're on the subject of apologies I've deleted a post from yesterday as some people said it was childish and made me sound like a bitter old queen. It was and I am. Well old-ish. Sorry. All criticism of Fagburn is gratefully received. 

Cardinal O'Brien: Let's Get The Party Started

Almost invariably, it was late at night by the time the parties started. After dinner and prayers, the residents of St Andrew’s College would gather around candlelit tables in the refectory or head upstairs to the billiard room to talk, drink and laugh into the wee hours.
The tight-knit group, mostly in their early 20s, had been drawn to the 19th-century baronial mansion near the village of Drygrange, a stone’s throw from the River Tweed, on the Scottish borders, by a calling. They wanted to devote their lives to serving God as priests in the Catholic Church...

The Daily Mail.

Hard call for the Mail to know where to stand on this one.
Church good, gays bad, but The Gays in The Church, hmm...
So they just print a bunch of titillating crap and innuendo peppered with unsubstantiated quotes from "sources" that have no real relation to Cardinal O'Brien.
And talking of non-existent sinister "gay mafias" is as odious and offensive as talking about non-existent "Jewish cabals".
And the well-worn subtext to this story, that all gay bashers are secretly gay, is as fatuous as saying all racists in Britain are secretly black.
This really is a dreadful anti-gay witch hunt about an admittedly awful man but about whose personal life we now know next to nothing - no wonder the Mail is going in for the kill.
Well done.

Cardinal O'Brien: Downfall

Strange how we rejoice in another man's downfall
(I'm guilty too, of course)
Some serious charges have been made
Maybe gay closeted anti-gay.
I bet most of us were at some point.
Did he?
Didn't he behave "indecently"?
"Yes!" we cheer
Like modern day gay Tricoteuse
like the mobs who wait outside murder trials, kicking the police van
To show how much they care.

Cardinal O'Brien: Oops!

The Observer.

Another one!
Give us guns - let us finish the fuckers off.

Adoption: Catholics Don't Care

Catholic adoption agency loses five year legal battle over its refusal to accept gay couples

Catholic Care said it would lose its funding through Church collections and other voluntary donations if it allowed same-sex couples to adopt children
Charity Commission insisted charity's stance is 'divisive, capricious and arbitrary' and 'demeaning' to dignity of homosexual couples
Judge was told that charity's stance was in clear violation of Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights
Charity says it might close its adoption services after landmark court ruling

The Daily Mail.

This would be excellent news if it closed! 

Can you imagine anyone you'd least want to be in charge of placing children with adults than a Roman Catholic organisation? 
"Catholic Care" is a sick oxymoron.
They'd let Jimmy Savile - the papal Knight Commander of St Gregory the Great - adopt.

PS Stock Photo Watch, the two gay men above have half a face showing between them. Dat's progress!

Barclay's Bank: So Big On Diversity They Even Like Bigots

This story appeared in the Sunday Express two days ago:

SOME of Britain’s leading banks and blue chip firms have been urged to withdraw their support from an awards event that brands the leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland a bigot for opposing gay marriage.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien has been nominated as equal rights charity Stonewall’s Bigot of the Year, with the recipient due to be announced at the Stonewall Awards ceremony next week.

So far, so predictable.
But it ended with this quote from Mark McLane, Barclays’ Director of Global Diversity and Inclusion:

“Let me be absolutely clear that Barclays does not support that award category either financially, or in principle and have informed Stonewall that should they decide to continue with this category we will not support this event in the future.”

Today this was picked up by various anti-gay websites, such as the Christian Institute, and Christian Voice (who may have created this Hurricane Sandy in a teacup - Barclay's had happily sponsored the awards for five years), who shouted Hosanna in the highest heavens at this (apparent) news. 
Oops!
The line seemed a rather incongruous thing for a "director of diversity" to say - and, moreover, it was in the Express, so I thought I'd check with Mark if he'd actually said it.
His PA sent me a letter he's written, to clarify his position, where he writes in conclusion;

"I have recently been made aware of the inclusion of a ‘Bigot of the Year’ category in the awards. Let me be absolutely clear that Barclays does not support that award category either financially, or in principle and have informed Stonewall that should they decide to continue with this category we will not support this event in the future. To label any individual so subjectively and pejoratively runs contrary to our view on fair treatment, and detracts from what should be a wholly positively focused event."

To which the only possible response is... eh?

PS Email me if you want the full text of the letter. You may also want to read War On Want's report Banking On Bloodshed. Or this, on Barclay's and the Libor rate-fixing scandal.
Nice people to do business with!

Update: I understand Stonewall have told Barclay's "Fine, goodbye then".

Update 2: Good piece by Archie Bland in Wednesday's Independent on how this affair exposes Barclay's (and Coutts) public image of being "gay-friendly" as insincere and cynical PR. 

Fagburn: Sunday Service

Heal the sick,
Feed the hungry,
House the homeless,
Help the hopeless.
Turn in all your priests who've been raping kids.

Then get back to me.

Mail Online: Off Message

Something of a classic of its kind, I think.
The Mail has gone totally batshit because the arch bigot O'Brien said over the weekend; "I am saying to the prime minister, look, don’t just protect your very rich colleagues in the financial industry, consider the moral obligation to help the poor of our country."
Cause that Jesus bloke didn't say anything about helping the poor, did he?
And he never stopped going on about the farking queers.
I'd love to read the Gospel According To The Daily Mail.
Can someone write one, please?

Cardinal O'Brien: A Call For A Christian Fightback

The head of the Catholic church in Scotland has added his voice to growing calls for Christians to be allowed to openly express their beliefs during Holy Week.
In his Easter Sunday homily, Cardinal Keith O'Brien will urge Christians to 'proudly nail themselves to a big cross in the car park behind Asda, like they do in the Philippines'.
In a story that we made up, Birmingham council has banned public crucifixions citing health and safety regulations, and has called for Easter to be re-named Springterval.  
Speaking at Edinburgh's St Mary's Cathedral tomorrow, O'Brien will quote Pope Benedict XVI, who said Christians 'need to be free to act in accordance with their own bizarre medieval sado-masochistic voodoo death cult'.
The cardinal will also say: 'I know that many of you do nail yourselves to a cross in the privacy of your own homes, not in a pervy way, but as a simple indication that you are trying to live by Christ's standards in your own daily life, even though you've clearly never listened to a single word that he said.'
He will add: 'Easter provides the ideal time to remind ourselves of the centrality of superstition and stupid rituals in our Catholic faith.
'A cross can easily be knocked up using two planks of wood and some Evo Stik. I hope people will consider giving some as gifts, and perhaps even crucifying their own children.'
Last month, Cardinal O'Brien hit the headlines after calling for 'all the gays to be put to death like what it says in the Bible.'
A fundraising drive has been launched by Father Martin McVeigh who is selling off his extensive collection of gentlemens' magazines and DVDs.

The Daily Mail.
Probably.

Cardinal O'Brien: CREEP!

Here's Cardinal O'Brien being grilled by John Humphrys on Today.
Yes, he does actually say; "It's time to call a halt to progress."
Unbelievable.

Update: An excellent demolition job on everything O'Brien argues on Huffington Post by historian Greg Jenner.

Cardinal O'Brien: Weasel Words

'Imagine for a moment that the Government had decided to legalise slavery but assured us that ‘no one will be forced to keep a slave’.
'Would such worthless assurances calm our fury? Would they justify dismantling a fundamental human right? Or would they simply amount to weasel words masking a great wrong?'

Cardinal O'Brien.
Hmm... seeing as your favourite book, The Bible, endorses slavery on racist grounds (and genocide, too) probably best to steer clear of this analogy.
Just a thought.