"The Catholic Church is a ridiculous organisation run by a bunch of sinister, hysterical virgins." – Stephen Fry.

"Stephen is a gay man who is the godfather to my children and I'm proud to call him my friend. I am perfectly happy to have Stephen babysit my children and he has done, in the past. If, on the other hand, a Catholic priest in full regalia turned up to babysit, first I'd call a cab, then I'd call the police." – Chris Hitchens.

Tim Minchin is the funniest man on the planet.

So then………is anyone going to protest ? That after all was the question.

.

Or are all those strongly held views only to be shared with other STWers ?

I'm going to go down to Parliament Square, with a huge banner that reads 'Stop Woppit Now', to express my dipleasure.

Eh?

Oh the Pope. Couldn't give a monkey's actually.

Oh, and WTF has Stephen Fry's sexuality got to do with babysitting kids?

Johan Hari in the Independent seemed to have it right: the people who should be protesting are the British Catholics. He's done all that protecting paedo stuff in your name, and is head of your religion.
Have a f**king word, eh?

He's just another old ****. **** him. His type won't be around in a couple of generations….

Stephen Fry and Christopher Hitchens sum up my thoughts rather brilliantly during this debate in London. Expect an angry mood to have rubbed off on you if you watch the whole (but frustratingly rushed) thing:

Mr Woppit seems to have seen the same thing I did…

Edit: Elfinsafetry – it is relevant since, in the Pope's view, Stephen Fry cannot be a moral, respectable man unless he apologises, feels ashamed, and promises never to have sex with someone he loves ever again for the rest of his life.

It is a distinction that I would be keen to draw between me and the pope too.

I'm a bit surprised Hitchen's children have a godfather.

I'm a bit surprised Hitchen's children have a godfather.

😆

Ok. So why does Christopher Hitchins have a problem with the idea of a Catholic priest babysitting his children then?

Stephen is a gay man who is the GODfather to my children and I'm proud to call him my friend. I am perfectly happy to have Stephen babysit my children and he has done, in the past. If, on the other hand, a Catholic priest in full regalia turned up to babysit, first I'd call a cab, then I'd call the police." – Chris Hitchens.

Christopher Hitchens is an idiot who has also now shown that he is a hypocrite.

Closed?

Apparently not. Weird. I've never seen that happen before…

Which is good, as debate and discussion is healthy, as long as folk can avoid nastiness.

.So your happy for your childs education to be funded by this organisation however you harbour such strong views of distain towards them?

Err Yes, I'm quite happy to take thier funding, even though I find thier beliefs incomprihensible and thier leaders morals questionable. I even lied to them in order to secure a place, do I feel any guilt or shame, err No

What I resent, in addition to all the above, is that £18M OF taxpayers' money is being used to help finance this paypal visit in the context of Osbourne's cuts. This is yet a further abuse of innocent members of the public.

Wherever the parish priest went in my school (Xaverian, Manchester), you could tell from the stream of boys running away. He groped me once. It never occurred to us at the time to say anything to anyone else…

What I resent, in addition to all the above, is that £18M OF taxpayers' money is being used to help finance this paypal visit in the context of Osbourne's cuts. This is yet a further abuse of innocent members of the public.

Lord Patten, the prime minister's representative for Pope Benedict's visit to the UK, reaffirmed that the total cost of the Pope's stay to the taxpayer would be between £10m and £12m.

The Catholic Church is also expected to make a contribution of between £9m and £10m towards the costs.

Err Yes, I'm quite happy to take thier funding, even though I find thier beliefs incomprihensible and thier leaders morals questionable. I even lied to them in order to secure a place, do I feel any guilt or shame, err No

You're quite a role model for your children, aren't you?

Why thank you johnners I like to think so

Ok. So why does Christopher Hitchins have a problem with the idea of a Catholic priest babysitting his children then?

I think it might perhaps have something to do with the fact that a number of catholic priests have spent the last 20 years or more either raping children, or covering up the rape of children by their fellow priests.

Sure, its a minority, but a significantly larger minority than outside the catholic church…

I went to a catholic school, o the priest went to jail for… Child abuse. I have no respect for the catholic church…

He is just another old man to me but if he wishes to have a debate with me he is most welcome.

I suspect you might lose 🙂

Too right Filthy. Get what you can from them. I send my kids to a C of E school. I understand completely that religion is a load of old toss, but it;s the best school in the area. I have no problem lying.

Anyone who thinks different is naive, deluded or just plain stupid. Or religious, which is possibly worse.

This post is overwhelmingly disgraceful, I am ashamed of you.

Or religious, which is possibly worse.

Worse than teaching your children that dishonesty is acceptable?

Sure, its a minority, but a significantly larger minority than outside the catholic church…

As someone pointed out earlier, many more children are abused by a family member. Be interested to see some statistics for what percentage of Catholic priests are in fact nonces. By your reckoning, the fact that a child is far more likely to be abused by a family member than a Catholic priest, then shouldn't everyone who is the relative of a child be locked up?

Yep. I am very clear on this.

I understand completely that religion is a load of old toss….. I have no problem lying

Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, or so help you god…… that sir, I can most definitely do.

Imagine if your kids end up buying into all that crap?
Did you have to get them christened to get them in?

Anyone who thinks different is naive, deluded or just plain stupid. Or religious, which is possibly worse.

Or maybe just honest ?

You might be surprised to learn that some people believe it's important to teach their children to be honest.

Although I assume that you would be happy to rob a bank – if you felt you could get away with it and it provided more opportunities for your children.

No…they're pretty smart. Not christened, and they treat the stories just like they treat other nice stories that they hear at school. Bible/Beast Quest/Koran/Harry Potter etc etc…it's all good.

Yep. I am very clear on this.

Ok, so now that you've admitting to being a liar, is it ok if we no longer believe in anything you say?

yes teaching your kids dishonesty is always the best course. I am sure they will grow up to admire your hypocrisy just as much as we do. Fingers crossed they forgive you 😉

I don't really care, why would I?

Anyway. Goodnight.

teaching your children that dishonesty is acceptable?

Well they just don't learn these kind of skills in school, I feel it my resposibility as a parent to educate them (joke before I get flamed)

Actually the school has to take a certain number of non catholic children from the area, so it's more likely that she got in that way. I didn't get her indoctrinated into the catholic church or anything, in fact I think the only lies was on the application letter where I expressed my admiration towards thier church and beliefs…. believe me that was very difficult for me, I still feel dirty for saying it.

Aren't their different levels of faith school?

Ie there are loads of C of E schools….My Dad is a head teacher at one, none of his children are christened/baptised…whatever, and he's worked tirelessly to beat the local minister into submission only allowing him 15 mins a week to talk religion. It is the only school in that village, to avoid it would mean a 20 min drive.

On the other hand there are full blown bible bashing Catholic schools where an hour+ a day is devoted to religious studies with nuns taking many of the classes?

If you're not religious and send your child to one of the latter… have a word with yourself!

As someone pointed out earlier, many children are abused by a family member. Be interested to see some statistics for what percentage of Catholic priests are in fact nonces.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/sep/07/if-only-catholic-church-did-pr

Only thing I could find: according to Ann Widdecombe, who is in favor of the catholic church: "After all the dust had settled in America, 98% of priests were untouched by allegations, let alone convictions."

So Ann is showing off that only 1 in 50 priests have been formally accused of child abuse. But that is admittedly allegations. Given that we are talking about America, lets say half of the allegations are untrue and just people looking for a chance to sue. Thats ONLY 1 in every 100 priests abusing children.

To be honest, I don't really believe it is that high. But isn't it worrying that Ann wasn't able to give a upper bound that was lower?

I respect him 'cos hes the Pope but the Catholic Church have an awful lot of owning up to do..

steve_b77 – Member
No intolerance, I'm married to a Catholic despite very strong Protestant roots.

By we I mean the nation/government, allowing someone who knowingly harbored and allowed a sex offender to continue on their way, as shown in the link above into the UK.

Was he not invited by the goverment to visit?

Papal visit?! Those swines emptied my account after an ebay sale went bad.

The title of this thread has changed a day after it was posted, namely the spelling of the word Papal.

How did project do that?