Higher Standards
After reading a post about the pope on a blog I tend to enjoy if not always agree with I started thinking about why the blogger's post on Pope Francis are so much harsher than her posts on other religious leaders.
There was an irony to the fact that she had previously written a blog post admonishing the attitude of defeatism inherent in the "life isn't fair get over it" proclamation of a different blogger. she spent a great deal of time and effort explaining why although we know life isn't fair that should not prevent us from working towards helping things be more fair by being active in social justice. She also writes mostly about fundamentalist, evangelical, quiverfull, conservative christianity of various styles with an eye to nuance and condemning the bad while highlighting the good and seeking to understand as well as explain the complexity of the people involved in these sects. However in her post on the pope there was no nuance, there was a distinct dismissal of what good he has done while directing focus solely to areas he has not been active in bringing up to snuff.
It's not as if she has no understanding of the catholic church, it's traditions and politics. She herself was a practicing catholic for a while after leaving behind her evangelical upbringing. So the issue isn't one of ignorance. I understand holding him to a higher degree of accountability but I see no reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
I've wondered if the problem is not in the pope as a person per say but the pope as a symbol. Pope Francis like the popes before him is the most visible religious leader in the west. Das always says leader really translates into target. I think he has a point. It's very easy to condemn someone for not doing everything in their power to right wrongs when you don't personally know them and they are highly visible. The same type of no quarter given hard nose attitude is more difficult to maintain when it's your pastor, or your neighbour. Not that you wouldn't take them to task over obvious misdeeds but it tends to be tempered with an easier recognition of their humanity and thus their fallibility. People say familiarity breeds contempt but it also breeds compassion.
There was an irony to the fact that she had previously written a blog post admonishing the attitude of defeatism inherent in the "life isn't fair get over it" proclamation of a different blogger. she spent a great deal of time and effort explaining why although we know life isn't fair that should not prevent us from working towards helping things be more fair by being active in social justice. She also writes mostly about fundamentalist, evangelical, quiverfull, conservative christianity of various styles with an eye to nuance and condemning the bad while highlighting the good and seeking to understand as well as explain the complexity of the people involved in these sects. However in her post on the pope there was no nuance, there was a distinct dismissal of what good he has done while directing focus solely to areas he has not been active in bringing up to snuff.
It's not as if she has no understanding of the catholic church, it's traditions and politics. She herself was a practicing catholic for a while after leaving behind her evangelical upbringing. So the issue isn't one of ignorance. I understand holding him to a higher degree of accountability but I see no reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
I've wondered if the problem is not in the pope as a person per say but the pope as a symbol. Pope Francis like the popes before him is the most visible religious leader in the west. Das always says leader really translates into target. I think he has a point. It's very easy to condemn someone for not doing everything in their power to right wrongs when you don't personally know them and they are highly visible. The same type of no quarter given hard nose attitude is more difficult to maintain when it's your pastor, or your neighbour. Not that you wouldn't take them to task over obvious misdeeds but it tends to be tempered with an easier recognition of their humanity and thus their fallibility. People say familiarity breeds contempt but it also breeds compassion.
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