{"id":2922,"date":"2015-09-30T13:21:19","date_gmt":"2015-09-30T18:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/?p=2922"},"modified":"2015-10-01T07:54:31","modified_gmt":"2015-10-01T12:54:31","slug":"frances-and-kim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2015\/09\/frances-and-kim.html","title":{"rendered":"Francis and Kim"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Pope Francis - Caricature\" by DonkeyHotey via Flickr [CC BY-SA 3.0]<\/a>
\u201cPope Francis \u2013 Caricature\u201d by DonkeyHotey via Flickr [CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>I was not planning to write about the visit of the Bishop of Rome, whom I unaffectionately refer to as Pope Fluffy.<\/p>\n

But that\u00a0was\u00a0before I read about his\u00a0meeting with Kim Davis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yesterday\u2019s edition of the Times<\/a> reported that Fluffy was\u00a0asked what he thought about government employees who refuse to do their jobs:<\/p>\n

Asked about government employees who refused to discharge their duties as an act of religious conscience, including refusing to grant marriage licenses to gay couples, Francis did not offer specifics but described conscientious objection as \u201ca human right.\u201d It was unclear whether he was aware of the recent controversy in which a county clerk in Kentucky, Kim Davis, refused to grant marriage licenses to gay couples, citing her religious beliefs<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s not unclear any more. And I hope it\u2019s also not unclear that this man is no liberal.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s wonderful that he acknowledges the effects of anthropogenic climate change. It\u2019s laudable that he advocates for social justice for the poor. But it\u2019s disgusting that he would characterize Kim Davis as exercising some kind of human right to conscientious objection when it is she who denies\u00a0others their basic human right to equal treatment and protection from discrimination.<\/p>\n

When Fluffy was stateside the American Humanist Association released this meme on Facebook:<\/p>\n

\"Pope-AHA\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAmerican Catholics are committed to building a society which is truly tolerant and inclusive, to safeguarding the rights of individuals and communities, and to rejecting every form of unjust discrimination.\u201d \u2013 POPE FRANCIS speaking at the White House, September 23, 2015.<\/p>\n

Sounds Like Humanism.<\/p>\n

\u2013 American Humanist Association<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Sorry, AHA, but this was not helpful.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m an active member in good standing (just renewed!) of the AHA and president of the local chapter, Humanists of Southeast Michigan. So I say this with love:\u00a0This meme is an unfortunate example how some people\u00a0confuse a\u00a0coincidence of shared values by\u00a0the religious\u00a0as Humanism.<\/p>\n

We Humanists cannot allow ourselves this kind of wishful thinking. Francis\u00a0is no Humanist. No one who relies on supernaturally-endorsed dogma, doctrines, superstition or tradition can be classified as a Humanist.<\/p>\n

Moreover, I\u2019m not even convinced that this does<\/em> \u201csound like Humanism.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m pretty sure that Fluffy carefully chose the phrase\u00a0\u201cunjust discrimination\u201d just to make sure that we all understand that there is such a thing as \u201cjust discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s surely not Humanism.<\/p>\n

We Humanists should absolutely work with religious people to achieve our joint goals. But let\u2019s not fool ourselves. These alliances are pragmatic. Nothing more.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was not planning to write about the visit of the Bishop of Rome, whom I unaffectionately refer to as Pope Fluffy. But that\u00a0was\u00a0before I read about his\u00a0meeting with Kim Davis. Yesterday\u2019s edition of the Times reported that Fluffy was\u00a0asked what he thought about government employees who refuse to do their jobs: Asked about government […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2281,"featured_media":2930,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[10,16,33],"class_list":["post-2922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogentries","tag-church-and-state","tag-homophobia","tag-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nFrancis and Kim<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I was not planning to write about the visit of the Bishop of Rome, whom I unaffectionately refer to as Pope Fluffy. 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