The Religious Right is A Religious Wrong

It seems the more extreme one is, the more likely one is to fool one's followers. Warren Jeffs, Jim Jones, Roger Mahoney and Marcial Maciel ar the clearest examples. All if this, of course, was inspired in me when I read an LA Times editorial by Jason Berry about Benedict's decision to do the responsible thing and harshly criticize Father Maciel for the many accusations, most probably true, of pedophilic actions. Berry, quite simply, took the liberal standpoint of asserting that pedophiles should not be punished for their lude and lascivious acts.

As one of his first paragraphs reads:

On the face of it, the pope's "invitation" to Maciel to give up his public
ministry in favor of a quiet life of "prayer and penitence" may not seem a
terribly harsh punishment for an alleged serial sex abuser. But in doing so,
Benedict did something extraordinarily unusual: He cast doubt on his
predecessor's judgment.

Note carefully Berry's sly use of language and syntax. He double-quotes the word invitation to show his opinion that Benedict is somewhat back-stabbing Maciel as opposed to criticising him up-front, to show that Benedict is trying to downplay what he's doing to Macial and claiming that this "downplaying" is, in fact, the wrong thing to do. Second, Berry takes special care in asserting that the claims of Maciel's sexual abuse are "alleged" and therefore either unproved and/or untrue. Thirdly and finally, Berry ends with the phrase "cast doubt." Now, John Paul had many supporters, that is true, in some ways even I was proud he was Pope, but Berry is using this opportunity to make out that Benedict doubted his predecessor, which no doubt might anger, if not infuriate, some readers, and thus would help Berry in his quest to make legit pedophilic acts.

At the end of the article, what really got to my nerves were the following paragraphs:

Maciel launched the Legion in 1941 in Mexico. The order is small, about 600
priests, but has branched into the U.S. with two dozen prep schools and two
seminaries for teenage boys, an achievement made possible by Maciel's huge
fundraising efforts. The Legion is built on a cult of personality. Maciel's
picture hangs in every school, where children are taught that he is a living
saint.

The Legion has 60,000 lay supporters in Regnum Christi. They are deeply
orthodox. They study Maciel's letters in prayer groups. They must be in a
spiritual freefall right now, and for that we must feel sympathy. They were
betrayed.

Legionaries of Christ take a vow never to speak ill of Maciel and to
report on anyone who does — vows that, in effect, reward spying as an act of
faith.

The first paragraph astounds me because it treats horrific facts like informal information. If children are taught he is a living saint and he's attained followings in Hollywood (as a previous paragraph said), then why in the world is Berry not decrying that! After all, this is an editorial, but Berry is supplying us with the absolutely wrong sob story!

Now, the last two paragraphs are disturbing to me for a different reason. First off, the final paragraph makes Maciel, in my mind, seem very much like a different spiritual leader - Warren Jeffs. Jeffs has founded and controlled an entire super-religious sect of the Church of Latter Day Saints in a way that can only define his sect as a cult! He encourages polygamy and impregnation of mid-teenage girls. It is a culture in which males can take physical and emotional advantage of women in an organized society. Really freaky stuff - I'd encourage a Google search on this mastermind of evilness (there's no better word to describe this man, save for insane).

Oh, and in the article before that...we must feel sympathy because they were betrayed? No! In my mind at least, Maciel's followers are to Maciel what Jim Jone's followers were to Jim Jones. Yes, I said that. And Maciel's not the worst...in my own community is Cardinal Mahony, who for years has protected pedophilic priests with no legal or Papal retribution. I encourage you to google these four religious freaks, because you'll discover religious extremism is a moral wrong.