One of life’s great mysteries to me will always be why so many people walk blindly, unquestioning, behind the Pope. I understand the principle of brainwashing, and I remember hearing “give us a child until he’s seven, and he’ll be a Catholic all his life.” But I also know that it’s possible to look at one’s family, one’s government, and one’s church and see the reality behind the hype.

Most youngsters look up to Daddy and Mommy as infallible, yet as adults they realize that their beloved parents are frail human beings with flaws, often horrible flaws. Most people in America look up to our system of government as “the only workable system”

yet can also see that there are awful flaws and can accept dissent as patriotic. But Catholics, who grow up thinking the Pope is infallible and their religion is “the only true church” somehow continue to obey without question even when maturity should enable

them to see the staggering flaws in that church.

One thing that should alarm these followers is that their “infallible” leader and his church do change its policies. If something is infallible, why does it need to change? A gigantic flaw in this church is that, while it touts its own perfection, its morality is relative. The

people who are taught from infancy to believe that their church is the only one sanctioned by God have no problem accepting that church’s relative morality. For example, a Catholic marriage is so sacred that it must be sanctified by a priest in a Catholic church to

be bona fide. But it is okay to nullify that “holy” union (and make the children “illegitimate”) by annulment, if it is convenient. What is the infallible truth – marriage is sacred or disposable? It doesn’t concern the people who march behind the Pope.  The church expects exceptions to the morality that it advertises.

Currently, a Catholic priest is asking for an exception to an alcohol consumption law in his political protest. In Colorado, it is “unlawful for any person to consume malt, vinous, or spirituous liquor in any public place except on licensed premises permitted…to sell such liquor by the drink for consumption thereon.” Therefore, one can receive a summons, a fine, or even jail time for drinking alcohol on a street corner. Ever notice those signs that state “it is illegal to take alcoholic beverages outside” in restaurants?

But, in the time-honored tradition of the Catholic church, this priest feels that a law does not apply to him if he wants to do something against that law. Though his reasoning seems amazingly egotistical to me, his church has a history of doing as it wished for

centuries, so he seems to feel justified in having an exception made for him. Consuming alcohol on the public street really IS wrong for you, but it’s all right for him.

It’s a mystery why people continue to follow this church. If there is a God, is he really telling the Pope the truth and hiding it from you? I invite you to see your religion for what it is: a man-made system that enables the rulers (the Pope and his “lower management” guys) to demand your blind obedience, your dollars to build golden monuments to men, and your total acceptance of management’s moral relativity.