Catholic Stuff, Beer, and Masturbation

Padre Pio a Fraud?—
Padre Pio a fraud! The Catholic League, as is their wont, have issued their predictable response.

Beer and Gay Sex—
The Catholic League has also gotten its panties in a twist over Folsom Street Fair and Miller Beer's sponsorship of said street fair. Who would guess that such deviant behavior would be sponsored by such a wholesome industry?

• "Offensive" photographs.
  
• Boycott.
  

Miller later apologized, but it was not enough:

"The Miller Brewing Company and the Board of Directors of the Folsom Street Fair have both issued press statements this week apologizing for the offensive Last Supper poster that was used to promote the event. As such, they have insulted Catholics one more time. Let me be specific.

“The poster was the least offensive part of this Catholic-bashing forum. What was even more offensive was the sight of Christian symbols being sold at this Miller-sponsored fair as sex toys. The obscene and blasphemous names of these vulgar sex toys are so disgusting that no mainstream newspaper would print them. Then there was the incredible sight of a stripper and a man dressed as Jesus hoisted in cages above a Catholic church on a Sunday. This was done to provoke, taunt and insult Catholics. And who greeted everyone at the street fair? Men dressed as nuns. Had they been dressed like Al Jolson—with blackened faces—they would have been run out of town as racists.

“The Folsom Street Fair news release on this subject shows how utterly clueless its officers are. It says, ‘The mission is to create volunteer-driven leather events that provide the adult alternative lifestyle community with safe venues for self-expression while emphasizing freedom, fun, frolic and fetish and raising funds to benefit charity.’

“To which I say: If your idea of a ‘safe venue’ ‘self-expression’ and ‘fun’ includes men being beaten with chains in broad daylight, men who masturbate in the street, and men who perform oral sex on each other in public—I have pictures of these acts—then spare Catholics of your ‘fun.’ Leave us out of it and you can do to each other whatever you want.

“The only thing Miller is worried about is its logo appearing on a poster for an event it could not possibly defend. Not until it pledges not to sponsor Catholic-bashing events will the Catholic League call off its boycott and its anti-Miller PR campaign. We’re like that proverbial fly who just won’t go away.”

The part about men masturbating in the street is actually quite accurate. I went to Folsom Fair on a lark in 2002 and had the distinct pleasure of observing a man—to whom time had not been kind— with purple, throbbing, greasy member in hand, masturbating at a galloping pace in a doorway. It was gross.

Thoughts on F&T's "A PR disaster for the Christian music industry"

"A PR disaster for the Christian music industry" over at Faith & Theology.

So it begs the question: does it matter that the band plays along as Christians? In the comments, "Jim" says, "Christian rock is to music what hemorrhoids are to relaxation." I have to agree. I imagine that fans listen because of the message, not the music. So yes, it seems to violate some sort of expectation/assumption, but as Steven Segal says, "Assumption is the mother of all fuckups"...or was it the villain. Irrelevant.

"Tim" comments: "Or maybe, pop music is like the eucharist - ex opere operato? It works regardless of the state of the soul of the person 'performing' the rite...." Simple Donatism but in pop music form. I'm reminded of the time when I was a young lad and my sister remarked that she didn't like Plato because he was a misogynist. I didn't understand the objection because it seemed like she liked other things Plato had to say (i don't know why!), but discounted it out of hand because he didn't care for the girlies. She did the same thing with Nietzsche.

It seems like there are at least two categories of lying: outright fibbing and the lie of omission. Seen from the P.O.V. of strategy or game theory, there are good reasons why explicit lying is undesirable, but lies of omission often do less (or no) harm. In the case of the non-Christian "Christian" rock bands, it seems to come down to semantics: is the "Christian" in "Christian Rock" the predicate of the "Rock" or the "Christians"? If "Rock," then no big deal...if "Christians" then I suppose it's deceitful. But if that's not the case, then why the "Rock"? Unless it's some form of group worship mediated by distance and sound. I find the latter case more convincing as no one listens to Christian Rock for the Rock...but then why not Christian Folk and so on?

The whole thing also presupposes such a thing as authenticity. Who believes in such fairytales these days?

The Incomprehensible Phenomenon of T.V. Faith Healers

I have long been flabbergasted by the phenomenon of T.V. preachers and "faith healers." In particular, Peter Popoff (official site), "Bishop" Jordan (official site), and Benny Hinn (official site).

It seems, and this is being generous, that such preachers are either, a) Horribly ignorant of their faith and deeply unorthodox or, b) Straight-up frauds. Most people wouldn't even consider the first possibility. But it does seem that there is a disturbingly large amount of people who believe c) That these people are legitimate, sincere, genuine, and holy.

In 2004, Peter Popoff raked in over $16,000,000 (!). According to the L.A. Times Benny Hinn pulled in $89,000,000 (!!) in the 2002-03 period and at one "crusade," 1.2 million people were in attendance.


"Bishop" Jordan is one of the strangest personalities in the late-night preaching circus. He claims to be a "bishop," but is not ordained, and claims apostolic succession from St. Peter. He claims to be a prophet, as do Hinn and Popoff, but perhaps a different spelling would be more appropriate.

Clearly, people are listening and paying. Who in their right minds would do either such thing? One factor may be the growing number of self-professed Christians who desire a form of worship outside of the church "system." But, if I may be so bold, I think that perhaps the deciding factor is followers' stupidity. Even with the benefit of the doubt, it is difficult to come to any other conclusion than the patrons of such dubious characters are, at best, naive and, at worst, totally moronic.

So an interesting question stems from this conclusion: is it unethical for the frauds to defraud? Are such idiotic people worthy of protection? Is there such a thing as ethical fraud?


The whole phenomenon—from the preachers to the content of their messages to the faithful followers—defies comprehension. The predominant message of these "ministries" are best categorized under the Prosperity Gospel, or Word of Faith movement (the same rubric under which we find such illustrious characters as Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Kenneth Copeland, and Creflo Dollar).

Scriptural support is sketchy at best, and much time is spent hawking things like "Prayer Handkerchiefs" and "Miracle Spring Water." These folks at the pulpit ooze a seedy aura so thick as to cause credulity-asphyxia. Why on earth?

From a business standpoint, the venture into preaching the Prosperity Gospel is mighty tempting: you have millions of suckers, low investment capital, no need for any real theological aptitude, and charisma is only an added benefit—some of the late night characters are as engaging as a small town City Council meeting. Mighty tempting indeed.

(It should also be noted that there seems to be only one Catholic "faith healer," the apparently valid Reverend Father Ralph DiOrio, who is decidedly less crass and tacky than his Protestant counterparts. But still, Ralph, for shame!)

UPDATE: Relevant book.