Wednesday, May 30, 2007

More Interference from Those Pesky Bishops!

In light of the previous post in which scientists argue the merits and dangers of 'irrational' Bishops spreading lies, evidence to support their charges comes from the Diocese of San Francisco. It seems Archbishop Niederauer is preaching ignorance, hate and suspicion of science by decrying the use of the technology that allows people to engage in healthy aesthetic dialogue.

Below are a few highlights as reported in the Catholic San Francisco.

Describing what he sees as an electronic tsunami of pornography, Archbishop George H. Niederauer told a Utah based anti pornography organization that pornography is evil because it debases the priceless worth and dignity of each human being and the gift of human sexuality given by a God who shares his loving, creative power with us....

Every computer terminal is its pipeline, and cell phones and other hand held devices, many of them marketed to children and young people, literally deliver pornography everywhere, to anyone, the Archbishop of San Francisco said in his keynote address....

We have all heard the discouraging numbers, he said, noting research shows there are 68 million Internet search engine requests for porn sites every day, that 70 percent of 18-24 year old men visit porn sites in a typical month, that 90 percent of eight to 16 year olds have viewed porn on line, and that the average age of a childs first exposure to pornography on the Internet is 11....

However, he said, What should motivate us most profoundly is not the amount of pornography there is but the kind of harm it does. Pornography assaults human dignity and commodifies people and human sexuality. Porn starves the human soul in its spiritual dimension....

Archbishop Niederauer pointed out the late Pope John Paul II had observed that the opposite of love is not hate, but use....
The whole article is here. The complete text of Archbishop Niederauer's speech can be downloaded (pdf) here.

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