Bishop Refuses Church Wedding to Impotent Paraplegic
Although the man's fiancée is aware of the problem, a spokesman for Bishop Lorenzo Chiarinelli of Viterbo, central Italy, told SkyTG24 television that "no bishop, no priest can celebrate a wedding when he knows of impotence as it is a motive for annulment." ...Attending the ceremony was their parish curate, who was banned from marrying the couple in church.
Source: Deutsche Welle
This incident is also important because it represents an unusual amount of consistency among people who are otherwise complaining about gay marriage because such unions are "unnatural" for their inability to lead to procreation. Logically speaking, opposition to gay marriage requires opposition to any union which also cannot lead to procreation, but few anti-gay bigots are willing to go that far.
Here, though, we can see what it's like when such religious ideology is adhered to consistently — and thus we also see even more evidence of why it would be bad for society. Imagine a society in which the traditionalist, religious paradigm of marriage were the legal standard. Not only would gay marriages be impossible, but so would marriages where one person is impotent, marriages where the woman is too old to become pregnant (men, of course, would be able to marry at any age), marriages where the couples have no intention to have children, etc.
Comments
It would be totalitarian!
On the one hand, I am outraged that they could be so cruel.
On the other, I think this kind of bad publicity is exactly what we need in the war against idiocy and cruelty borne from ignorance and superstition.
On yet another hand (who am I, Shiva?), it’s almost a relief to see that some of these people truly are insane and blinded by faith, rather than just using it as an excuse for their personal character flaws.
That’s what religion is: A template for character flaws to which someone can easily adhere in lieu of making their own decisions.
I actually applaud that bishop for his consistency. If marriage is for procreation, then this guy simply doesn’t qualify. As I said a few days ago on my blog
, this bishop, at least, is entitled to his homophobia. He’s consistent.
There are at least four problems with the people of the Roman Catholic Church:1. They assume that “Bible” contains truth about a God;2. They attempt to create, maintain, and believe (act upon) a “rational” extrapolation of the Bible stories, which is their “theology”, with its ecclesiastical institutionalization;3. They worship the artifice (religion) that they have created;4. They claim that theirs is the only true religion.
Does the Catholic Church also deny marriage to older couples that are beyond childbearing? If they do, and also prohibit cohabitation, then they are condemning older people to lonliness. How cruel!
The Catholic Church doesn’t claim to be concerned with believers’ earthly happiness. Rather, it promises them “eternal” happiness, providing they play by the Church’s rules. Even though the Church can’t prove that eternity exists, eternal happiness is a powerful incentive for the sheep of the flock to conform, especially if they live miserable existences anyway.
Father Shaggy,
‘As I said a few days ago on my blog
, this bishop, at least, is entitled to his homophobia.’
You believe people are entitled to monger hate? Is is ok to hold racist feelings as well? I can’t say a see a difference.
‘He’s consistent.’
Whilst on some level it is nice that the bishop isn’t going back on what he’s said everytime it suits him I imagine that this is because in Italy, a 98% Roman Catholic country, he can get away with it. I imagine if he were in other surroundings, he would support homophobia alone and not the marriage of impotent people. Whilst I’m not sure of this, it still doesn’t make his sick beliefs any more acceptable.