Pope Benedict attacks government over Equality Bill

Darkpaw attacks Pope over being an old, ignorant fuckwit
From BBC News:
The Pope has urged Catholic bishops in England and Wales to fight the UK's Equality Bill with "missionary zeal". Pope Benedict XVI said the legislation "violates natural law" and could end the right of the Catholic Church to ban gay people from senior positions.

The Pope has confirmed he will come to the UK this year, the first papal visit since John Paul II in 1982.

The government said the bill, which is currently going through Parliament, would make the UK a fairer place.

'Unjust limitations'
The Pope told the Catholic bishops of England and Wales gathered in Rome: "Your country is well-known for its firm commitment to equality of opportunity for all members of society. Yet, as you have rightly pointed out, the effect of some of the legislation designed to achieve this goal has been to impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs. In some respects it actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded and by which it is guaranteed."

Gay rights charity Stonewall condemned the Pope's comments, saying equality had to apply to everyone.

Senior parliamentary officer Jonathan Finney told BBC 5 live: "People should not be denied access to services and employment purely because they are gay... We've got to guard against sweeping exemptions seeming to protect one person's freedom, which actually really impact on other people's." He added: "What you can't start doing is saying that religious people have hard-won freedoms, we'll now restrict those, we won't give them to gay people, we won't give them to women."

Religious leaders have voiced concern that the Equality Bill could force churches to employ sexually active gay people and transsexuals when hiring staff other than priests or ministers.

No official itinerary has yet been drawn up for the Pope's visit but officials at the Vatican and in the UK told the BBC it was likely to take place in September. A spokesman for the Catholic Communications Network said further details were expected in early March. The pontiff is expected to visit Birmingham - as part of the planned beatification of Cardinal John Newman - and Scotland.

'Ill-informed claim'
The National Secular Society said it would mount a protest campaign made up of gay groups, victims of clerical abuse, feminists, family planning organisations and pro-abortion groups among others. President Terry Sanderson said: "The taxpayer in this country is going to be faced with a bill of some £20m for the visit of the Pope - a visit in which he has already indicated he will attack equal rights and promote discrimination."

Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said the Pope's comments were a "coded attack on the legal rights granted to women and gay people". His ill-informed claim that our equality laws undermine religious freedom suggests that he supports the right of churches to discriminate in accordance with their religious ethos," he said. "He seems to be defending discrimination by religious institutions and demanding that they should be above the law."

But Catholic MP Ann Widdecombe said: "This isn't a debate about homosexuality, this is a debate about religious freedom." She told BBC Radio 5 live: "If a faith teaches, as major faiths do, that something is wrong, then quite clearly you cannot have somebody who believes that it's right actually occupying a very senior position. That we have accepted as natural justice for a very long time." She added: "Nobody else is saying that the teachings of the Catholic Church should influence what non-Catholics do - this is about allowing Catholics to pursue their own faith."

Robert Mickens, Rome correspondent at the Catholic newspaper The Tablet, said the Pope's position was "nothing really new - this is part of the classic Catholic teaching on human sexuality". What the Pope is doing is trying to encourage the bishops to keep their resolve in very fluctuating morals in cultures and societies today."

'Prejudiced employers'
He added: "It's not that the Pope is wading so much into the particulars of British society or British law - I think this is very much a piece of his longstanding teaching."

Liberal Democrat MP Evan Harris, who sits on the Joint Committee on Human Rights, said all Britons - including Catholics and gay people - were protected by UK equality laws. "Religious people can be reassured that there is nothing in the Equality Bill which imposes gay priests on religions, but it does protect the general workforce from prejudiced employers," he said.

A spokesman for the Government Equalities Office said: "The Pope acknowledges our country's firm commitment to equality for all members of society. We believe everyone should have a fair chance in life and not be discriminated against. The Equality Bill will make Britain a fairer and more equal place."
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Let's take a look at what the old bastard has said: "In some respects it actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded and by which it is guaranteed." Now, is homosexuality natural? Yes. It is seen all over the animal kingdom. Homosexuality is merely one part of the whole spectrum of human sexuality. The Pope cannot claim that homosexuality is unnatural, since it exists in NATURE. If anything, the clothes he's wearing are unnatural - they don't exist in nature. Hospitals are unnatural. Cars are unnatural (and therefore so is the Pope-Mobile). The palace he lives in is unnatural. FUCKING CATHOLICISM ISN'T NATURAL!!!

Are we surprised that Ann Widdecombe is siding with the Pope? After all, she's a Catholic.

Could you imagine what would happen if a company decided not to employ Catholics? There would be outrage. I mean, Catholicism is a choice. You believe it and treat it as your way of life. Non-Catholics subscribe to other beliefs and other ways of living. What makes Catholicism, and "religious freedoms" so special? What makes them more equal than everything else? Nothing. Religion should earn respect, not be given it gratis.

I see it's going to cost us £20mn to have this old bastard visit this country? Well, how about he pays for it himself? How about he refunds us the £20mn cost of policing HIM? After all, he sits atop a vast pot of money. £20mn is small change - probably not even as much as they have to pay out every week in compensation to victims of people in their particular religious cult.

The Pope is an old fart. That he is trying to sway the politics in our country is a vile intrusion that must be stopped. If a bishop is sitting in Parliament, then that bishop's FIRST duty is to THIS nation and to the people of THIS nation. Their duty is not to the Pope. Fucking old bastard.

Go here for 1m 20s of fun involving the Pope and a random woman who attacked him. Brings a smile to my face every time I see it.