Andrew Sullivan

The Gitmo Farce

The injustice, hypocrisy and bizarre paranoia continue under this president, as if almost nothing has changed since Bush.

The Unique Quality Of “Lifelong Heterosexual Monogamy” Ctd

A reader writes:

I was so disappointed when Douthat went all Dreher. Just as Dreher did 2 years ago, when even his most devout readers couldn’t find a positive argument in his morass of unfounded worries, Ross has reached for the celibate lesbian, whose choice is really, at the end of the day, the ONLY choice they think we have.

It’s not about protecting hetero marriage; it is about retaining enough social stigma around homosexuality and gay sex that the church and its members can continue to feel comfortable gently loving us with pity. I have to say the “uppity women” analogy is perfect. If we skulked around, chuckling over our funny relationships, and publicly felt bad about ourselves, Ross would feel much more comfortable. Neither Ross nor Rod can come right out and say it: it’s not marriage that falls apart, it’s the moral authority of MY church. It pains me that the faithful continue to draw the battle lines this way: whatever gays get must be a loss for Christianity.

Keep it up. Keep asking the very simple question: “then what can we have?” Then, once Ross answers, I’d like him to explain it to my mother.

We now know that this Pope was personally involved in enabling the rape of children rather than confronting criminal priests during his time as an archbishop in Munich. We know that while he had jurisdiction as head of the CDF, child-rapists were often allowed to carry on their crimes, and the most powerful rapist, abuser and cultist, Marcial Maciel, was abetted in his behavior. We know also that Benedict has seemed to try to get a grip on the problem as Pope, while never actually relenting on his own authority or the church's own sense of its own immunity from legal or criminal investigation. And we had, for example, his stirring letter to the Irish bishops about the appalling legacy of child abuse, torture and cruelty perpetrated for decades by men and women abusing the power of their religious office.

In this mixed legacy, we now find this. Two bishops in Ireland tendered their resignations to the Vatican in the wake of the ground-breaking and earth-moving Murphy report on church abuse. The Pope has now refused to accept their resignations, setting off a firestorm of outrage in Ireland:

Survivor Andrew Madden, who was abused as a child by paedophile priest Ivan Payne, said the announcement came as no surprise. "Today's announcement also shows how utterly meaningless the instruction was that Pope Benedict gave to Irish bishops to identify steps that would bring healing to victims of clerical child sexual abuse. Victims asked for those who were part of the governance of the archdiocese when sexual abuse was being covered up to resign, and this is ignored," he said.

John Kelly, of SOCA, said he was "bitterly disappointed" the bishops' resignations had not been accepted by the Vatican. "It will do nothing for the church and it will do nothing to help bring closure for the victims, especially in the Dublin Archdiocese," he said.

Kevin Clarke in the Jesuit magazine, America, writes:

It is truly becoming difficult to comprehend the thinking going on within the Curia on this issue. Here were two men making, after some episcopal arm-twisting that no doubt cost Archbishop Martin a great deal, who offered themselves up in a small gesture of accountability—so much more is required—but even this meek effort has been rejected in Rome. Could the Curia truly be so oblivious to the anger and frustration of average Catholics worldwide trying to make sense of the church's response to years of sexual abuse by clergy on Catholic children? It doesn't seem possible.

And yet, tragically, it does.

(Photo: Joe Klamar/Getty.)

Nanny State Watch

Yes, San Francisco again:

[N]ewly proposed legislation would ban toys from most kids meals sold at McDonald's, Burger King and other chains unless the meals meet more stringent calorie and sodium limits. The legislation also would require fruit or veggies in each meal.

A Poem For Friday

Or: the eloquent haikus of Pete Wehner in a classic Chait pwn.

Reality Check

Support For Marriage Equality Accelerating? Ctd

I'm a little taken aback by the speed of events. Within one week, all the gay citizens of Mexico can get married and (perhaps) all the gay citizens of California as well. That follows Argentina's move as well. That's marriage equality in three land masses with 180 million people in this hemisphere. And then the sharp uptick in support in the US as a whole. But in some ways, nothing quote compares with this notice from the Prairie Advocate in rural Iowa. It reads as follows:

Donald Fair and Warren “Butch” Dollinger were united in marriage on July 23, 2010 at the chapel in the VA Hospital in Iowa City, IA. The ceremony was performed by Pastor John McKinstry of the First Christian Church of Coralville, IA. A World War II veteran stood up for the couple. The couple are both Navy veterans of the Vietnam War. The couple are surrounded and supported by family and friends. They have been together 40 years and wanted to honor their love for each other by pledging to be “together till death do they part.”

Love wins. In the end.

Bush’s Cordoba Connection

Megan Carpentier connects the dots:

[W]hen Bush adviser Karen Hughes was appointed Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy, the Bush Administration saw improving America's standing among Muslims abroad as a part of its national security strategy. And, as such, Hughes set up listening tours, attended meetings and worked with interfaith groups that — shocking, by today's Republican standards — included actual Muslims.

One of those people was Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf.

Chait:

I suppose by the Weekly Standard's reasoning, this would make George W. Bush a supporter of radical Islam. After all, his administration supported a man whose wife has an uncle who used to be “a leader” of a mosque that now has a Web site that links to the Web site of an allegedly radical organization.

Your Emails Are Polluting The Earth, Ctd

Google_thedalles_640-thumb-600x399-31247