2008 sacred wafer scandal

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Also known as: Crackergate, Wafergate, Wafer Madness

Contents

[edit] Overview

[edit] the undisputed facts

The 2008 sacred wafer scandal began on 2008-06-29 when University of Central Florida undergraduate student government senator Webster Cook was attending communion at the University's Catholic Campus Ministries club service on the UCF campus in Orlando, Florida. As part of the communion ritual, he was given a ritually prepared wafer, known as a Eucharist and sometimes referred to as the "Body of Christ", to consume.

Wishing to show the wafer to a fellow student senator in order to explain more about the Catholic faith, he retained it and went to sit down, intending to eat it afterwards. Unfortunately, someone apparently objected to this, and attempted to wrestle the wafer from Mr. Cook's hands:

From a WFTV report, 2008-07-05:

"When I received the Eucharist, my intention was to bring it back to my seat to show him," Cook said. "I took about three steps from the woman distributing the Eucharist and someone grabbed the inside of my elbow and blocked the path in front of me. At that point I put it in my mouth so they'd leave me alone and I went back to my seat and I removed it from my mouth."

A church leader was watching, confronted Cook and tried to recover the sacred bread. Cook said she crossed the line and that's why he brought it home with him.

"She came up behind me, grabbed my wrist with her right hand, with her left hand grabbed my fingers and was trying to pry them open to get the Eucharist out of my hand," Cook said, adding she wouldn't immediately take her hands off him despite several requests.

It is apparently more or less at this point that Mr. Cook left the church, taking the wafer with him.

The Catholic community promptly went into an uproar, fueled in part by remarks by officials at The Catholic League (US), a Catholic advocacy organization not affiliated with the Catholic Church:

from a Fox News Orlando report, 2008-07-07:

“We don’t know 100% what Mr. Cook's motivation was,” said Susan Fani, a spokesperson with the local Catholic diocese. “However, if anything were to qualify as a hate crime, to us this seems like this might be it.”

Mr. Cook subsequently received threats of death and other harm from those supporting the Catholic side of the disagreement. He also returned the wafer, apparently never having intended to keep the cracker indefinitely or harm it, though the death threats may have played a part in his decision.

The story apparently first hit the web on July 5 in an [[online article by WFTV 9, a local TV station.

On July 6, a post on the Creative Minority Report blog strongly condemned Cook's actions and many commenters on the posting were also supportive of further physical action against Mr. Cook. The blog moderator shut down commenting apparently due to a number of dissenting comments, however, which he claimed did not "follow the rules"; these comments were also removed.

On July 7, the Orlando Fox News affiliate reported that Cook was receiving death threats. This article and the July 5 WFTV article apparently came to the attention of PZ Myers, outspoken defender and advocate of atheism.

On July 8, PZ posted in Webb's support, decrying the responses of the Catholic community as "Dark Age superstition and malice, all thriving with the endorsement of secular institutions here in 21st century America" and "a culture of deluded lunatics" and sending out a call for further ritually-prepared crackers on which he planned to commit more "desecration".

At this point, PZ himself became the target of death threats and attempts by Catholic League president Bill Donohue to have PZ fired or otherwise censured for his conduct. Much debate ensued throughout the blogosphere, and the dust has not yet settled as of this writing.

On July 13, a Pharyngula reader obtained a consecrated Host from a service at the Brompton Oratory, London (recording a video of the abduction in the process), and subsequently mailed it to PZ for desecration. (He later leaves a comment on Pharyngula taking credit for the deed and providing a video link.)

On or about July 23, PZ desecrates the cracker, along with one copy each of the Koran and The God Delusion.

On July 24, the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy calls for PZ to be fired.

[edit] discussion

[edit] Links

[edit] Filed

  • 2008-07-30 /S/D/ The Confraternity of Catholic Clergy doesn't like me “Freedom of speech means I do have the right to malign and make fun of any religion I want. I can't interfere with your right to practice your religion, but that hasn't happened — all I've done is laugh at you. .. That last clause, though... do they seriously believe that only Catholics are allowed to criticize Catholics, and that this restriction is enshrined in the constitution? That's a fine catch, that catch-22. So only Catholics can malign the faith, but if they do, then they can be kicked out of the faith, which means they can't criticize it anymore. That sounds like a ripe piece of theological logic to me.” Note: /comment 216 is a moral argument (and video) from "the guy who provided PZ with the cracker that he used in the photo."
  • 2008-07-29 /S/D/ Catholic Clergy Call for Reparation in Response to Communion Desecration “The Confraternity of Catholic Clergy .. respond to the sacrilegious and blasphemous desecration of the Holy Eucharist by asking for public reparation. We ask all Catholics of Minnesota and of the entire nation to join in a day of prayer and fasting that such offenses never happen again. .. We find the actions of University of Minnesota (Morris) Professor Paul Myers reprehensible, inexcusable, and unconstitutional. His flagrant display of irreverence by profaning a consecrated Host from a Catholic church goes beyond the limit of academic freedom and free speech. .. The same Bill of Rights which protect freedom of speech also protect freedom of religion. The Founding Fathers did not envision a freedom FROM religion, rather a freedom OF religion. In other words, our nation's constitution protects the rights of ALL religions, not one and not just a few. Attacking the most sacred elements of a religion is not free speech anymore than would be perjury in a court or libel in a newspaper.” A very interesting interpretation of the constitution. Commentary: Pharyngula
  • 2008-07-26 /S/D/ He's Just a Frackin' Adolescent Ass “There are dozens of reasons to criticize the behavior of that blogger, perhaps the most salient of which is that it's never OK to gratuitously attempt to hurt the feelings of large groups of people, with no other reasonable end but to hurt their feelings, but I think the most tragic consequence of said blogger's behavior is that it pretty much cuts off any discussion of the real issues, and diverts the attention to him. And I find it sad any time the opportuntity for rational discussion of important issues is undercut by adolescent nonsense. And I also find it sad that ScienceBlogs, supposedly a bastion of reason, "the world's largest conversation about science," long criticized for being overly liberal in its political orientation, is dominated by an illiberal, anti-intellectual ass whose idea of a rational response is to emulate Michelle Malkin or the Dansk Folkeparti's youth movement. I feel ashamed to be associated with it, and him.”
  • 2008-07-24 /S/D/ The Great Desecration “I wonder how many of our Catholic friends have heard of the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215? This is the event where many of their important dogmas were codified, including the ideas of Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus, that the Eucharist was the sacrament that only properly ordained priests of the Catholic church could give, and that the Jews were a pariah people, who could hold no public office, had to pay a special Jew tax for their right to exist, and were required to wear special clothing to distinguish them from Christians. The yellow badge marking the Juden was not an invention of the Nazis, but a decree by faithful Catholics in the Middle Ages. That's an interesting juxtaposition, that a symbol of Christian exceptionalism was formalized at the same time that they formally decreed the Jews to be inferior, and a target of hatred.”
  • 2008-07-24 /S/D/ P. Z. Myers Must Be Fired “Instead, P. Z. Myers surreptitiously obtained and then desecrated something that is held most sacred by numerous individuals. He went out of his way to offend, to provoke the most deeply held sentiments of others, and he did so in full knowledge of what he was doing, as witnessed by the fact that he complains repeatedly on his blog about all of the outraged complaints he has been receiving from Catholics via e-mail. .. In desecrating what Catholics hold most sacred--and what Muslims hold sacred as well--P. Z. Myers has fundamentally compromised himself as an educator. .. He has made himself unsuitable for employment as an educator.”
  • 2008-07-24 /S/D/ Myers Desecrates the Eucharist “Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded as follows:

“A formal complaint against Myers has already been made. What he did – in both word and deed – constitutes a bias incident, as defined by the University of Minnesota. The policy says that ‘Expressions of disrespectful bias, hate, harassment or hostility against an individual, group or their property because of the individual or group’s actual or perceived race, color, creed, religion... can be forms of discrimination. Expressions vary, and can be in the form of language, words, signs, symbols, threats, or actions that could potentially cause alarm, anger, fear, or resentment in others... even when presented as a joke.’

“The University must now take action and apply the appropriate sanction. We are contacting the president, Board of Regents and the Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Office at the school, as well as Minnesota’s governor and both houses of the state legislature; the Catholic community in Minnesota is also being contacted. Moreover, we are also contacting Muslim groups nationwide.

“It is important for Catholics to know that the University of Minnesota will not tolerate the deliberate destruction of the Eucharist by one of its faculty. Just as African Americans would not tolerate the burning of a cross, and Jews would not tolerate the display of swastikas, Catholics will not tolerate the desecration of the Eucharist.””

Further discussion here.

  • 2008-07-24 /S/D/ August 2008 is Officially “Pray for PZ Myers Month” “I will encourage you to make August a month of prayer for PZ Myers. But let’s not just pray for his conversion. Let’s be a little more daring. Let’s pray that he will become our next St. Paul — not an the Apostle to the Gentiles, but an Apostle of the Eucharist. .. This isn’t as odd as it might sound. One theme running throughout the lives of the saints, especially saints that lives worldly lives before their conversion, is this: Their greatest sins became the foundation of their holiness. St. Paul persecuted the Church, and so God used him to build up the Church. St. Augustine lived a life of fleshly pleasure, so God made him the one to clarify the Christian view of conjugal love and made him the model of acesticism. St. Ignatius of Loyola longed to be a military man, and so God made him the head of, at one time, one of the most influential religious orders in the world. And little Therese Martin was extremely selfish in the smallest things of life, so God used her to teach the world how to become extraordinarily holy by giving Jesus the smallest of our acts.”
  • 2008-07-24 /S/D/ Anti-Catholicism Finds a Home at University of Minnesota “What does offend him is that a large number of people have emailed him to protest and denounce him. He also says he has been threatened physically. If so, shame on anyone who did so. Even threats of that sort are against Christian teaching, not to mention stupid and possibly illegal. .. However, I have been threatened for far, far less--just expressing dissenting views on evolution. .. Words physically weigh less than the consecrated Host. They are "nothing". And yet words that offend Myers and his fellow Darwinist apparatchiki can drive them to deeds of vigorous punishment. Restraint and scholarly good will are for other people. The mere words that Darwin doubters have raised in schoolrooms and lecture halls incite P. Z. Myers to call for punishments of flunking for students, expulsion for graduate students and firings for professors. .. So words apparently matter in those cases. What gets thrown in the trash then are normal rules of civilized discourse, followed by people's careers.” Wrong, but eloquent and persuasive. Where are all these evolutionist threats documented? What's wrong with "expelling" people for teaching bad science?
  • 2008-07-23 /S/D/ No action to be taken against professor who threatened to desecrate Eucharist, university says “In her statement, Chancellor Johnson said: “I deeply regret that the postings have been so upsetting to so many people and that this has, in turn, caused some individuals to question the values of civility, respect, academic inquiry and critical thought that are the hallmark of this institution.” ... “There’s been no official response from the Catholic Church and I would make a deal here, that I would return these wafers to the nearest Catholic church if the Church would come out and disavow the tactics of Bill Donohue and the people who have threatened my job and have threatened my life,” Myers said.”
  • 2008-07-23 /S/D/ Concerning Eucharistic Desecration “Myers then decided to blow away the last shreds of pretense that his blog Pharyngula was about science and give full vent to his demented hatred of Jesus Christ by urging his throng of equally demented followers to steal some hosts so he could desecrate them and put the whole thing on his blog. The Catholic League got involved (rightly, in my view), and Catholics, as is our custom, have been arguing about it ever since, pursuing a range of responses from complete pacifism to some rather over-the-top reactions including (you guessed it) death threats against Myers.” A rather inaccurate, emotionally-charged, and vituperative account of the situation (e.g. calling PZ "evil"). Also makes the same absurd comparison John Pieret did, i.e. desecrating a Eucharist cracker is like breaking into someone's house and stealing their children's artwork. Commentary: West Coast Catholic
  • 2008-07-17 /S/D/ MnIndy interview: Unrepentant science-heathen PZ Myers still intends to prove "this cracker is nothing" “The response has done nothing but confirm it: I have to do something. I'm not going to just let this disappear. It's just so darned weird that they're demanding that I offer this respect to a symbol that means nothing to me. Something will be done. It won't be gross. It won't be totally tasteless, but yeah, I'll do something that shows this cracker has no power. This cracker is nothing.”
  • 2008-07-16 /S/D/ AlQueerda Communique # 1 Man dressed up in Muslim-like white robes threatens to shoot Eucharist wafer unless the Catholic Church stops its support of laws discriminating against gays and lesbians. (In case anyone is wondering, this is satire, and it is not anti-gay.) This also incidentally raises the question: is it wrong for someone to claim they have a blessed wafer which is actually un-blessed? If they were to threaten the wafer, how would the Catholic Church tell the difference? If a real blessed wafer was tossed into a box with unblessed wafers and they were all mixed together, how would you tell which one was real? (like Horton Hears a Who, except the Sour Kangaroo would be right...)
  • 2008-07-15 /S/D/ Read what those caring, kind and loving Catholics want to do now! “...if the wafer really was suddenly transformed into the body of Christ, why doesn’t it bleed when you snap it in half, and why does communion wine usually taste like the dregs of a $2 cask of cheap sherry? Shouldn’t it taste like a well aged Jew with a firm body, a hint of wood shavings with a dusty after taste? And haven’t some Catholics come out of the woodwork and shown us all their true colours by not only wishing personal physical harm on PZ, but offering to speed his demise themselves? I thought the Christian faith took pride in its “Turn the other cheek” outlook and “Love thy fellow man” philosophy...” (with some punctuation help)
  • 2008-07-14 /S/D/ Sullivan on PZ's Sacrilege Threat “He's certainly right that atheists and agnostics can be bigots just like religious people, but I don't think mocking this absurd situation makes one a bigot at all. The mockery is perfectly justified by the absurd behavior of Bill Donohue and his cohorts, who are claiming that the student who did this engaged in kidnapping (!) and that he should be expelled from school. For taking a cracker. I'm sorry, if that isn't deserving of mockery, what is?”
  • 2008-07-13 /S/D/ UCF Catholic Group Faces Hazing Charges For Protecting 'Body Of Christ' “Student Government Senator Webster Cook filed the hazing charges with University of Central Florida administrators shortly after he admitted violating church rules by bringing the Eucharist home from Mass on June 29, then holding it hostage for one week in a plastic bag before returning it. .. Cook said his hazing complaint cited a UCF anti-hazing policy banning the forced consumption of any food in which the initiation or admission into or affiliation with a University of Central Florida organization may be directly or indirectly conditioned. .. The rule, presumably, was intended to prevent fraternities from force-feeding pledges disgusting food, but Cook said the rule is clear and applies to all UCF clubs, including the Catholic Campus Ministries religious group. He insists the group is guilty because members ordered him to consume the Eucharist to remain at Mass.”
  • 2008-07-11 /S/D/ Can this possibly get more insane? “The Catholic League has issued another press release. In addition to disparaging the theory of evolution as the "King Kong Theory of Creation" (which is a bit peculiar, since Catholicism does not take a stand against evolution), he accuses me and my ilk (that's you, fair readers) of hysteria while making this hysterical declaration..." in which he asks for increased security at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis due to concerns stemming from the presence of the deranged, slobbering, cracker-desecrating PZ Myers a mere 150 miles away in Morris.
  • 2008-07-10 /S/D/ Letter to An Administrator “The action would set a precedent that would affect American higher education indefinitely into the future. No college professor, no college administrator, would be safe from such witch hunts by emboldened extremists, and universities might become testing grounds for the setting of fascistic benchmarks which educators would have to meet... in piety, in patriotism, in whatever field the screamers-of-the-day chose to set. .. I see all of this as the final harvest of the Bush White House years. The fools who swept him into office, and the fools who defended him and his anti-intellectual cohort, would win a significant victory that would complete the erosion of civil liberties in the United States – including, profoundly, the one about religious freedom.”
  • 2008-07-08 /S/D/ IT'S A FRACKIN’ CRACKER! “Wait, what? Holding a cracker hostage is now a hate crime? The murder of Matthew Shephard was a hate crime. The murder of James Byrd Jr. was a hate crime. This is a goddamned cracker. Can you possibly diminish the abuse of real human beings any further? ... So, what to do. I have an idea. Can anyone out there score me some consecrated communion wafers? There's no way I can personally get them — my local churches have stakes prepared for me, I'm sure — but if any of you would be willing to do what it takes to get me some, or even one, and mail it to me, I'll show you sacrilege, gladly, and with much fanfare.” It's not yet clear what sacrilege PZ planned to commit, although it's certainly easy enough to imagine any number of things which the outrage-addicted Catholic community would consider such.
  • 2008-07-06 /S/D/ Student Holds Eucharist Hostage “Webster Cook is a student at the University of Central Florida. He is also a top notch jerk. .. Last week Cook attended a campus mass. At that mass, he attempted skulk back to his pew with a consecrated host. The extraordinary minister saw what he was doing and blocked his path until he put into his mouth. However, when he got back to his pew he removed the host. A lady from the Church saw what he done and attempted to get the host back from him by trying to pry his hand open. Cook now claims he is a victim.”
  • 2008-07-05 /S/D/ 'Body Of Christ' Snatched From Church, Held Hostage By UCF Student “A University of Central Florida student, upset [that] religious groups hold church services on public campuses” thereby violating separation of church and state, “is holding hostage the Eucharist, an object so sacred to Catholics [that] they call it the Body of Christ. .. Cook claims he planned to consume it, but first wanted to show it to a fellow student senator he brought to Mass who was curious about the Catholic faith.” They act like this was the only one, but the wafer is mass-produced at a cost of about 1.2 cents per cracker. Thus began the 2008 sacred wafer scandal.

[edit] Timeline

Some of these links have been filed, but not all

  • 2008-07-08 IT'S A FRACKIN’ CRACKER!: PZ asks for more samples of the Host upon which to commit sacrilege and thereby somehow threaten the Catholic faith with a fate worse than death; PZ shuts down the comments at #1007 in order to reduce load on the server, but posts "fresh crackers!" specifically for further comments.
  • 2008-07-10
    • Fight back against Bill Donohue!: The president of the Catholic League is putting pressure on both the UMM and the State of Minnesota to "do something" about this horrible desecration, regarding which it is apparently "hard to think of anything more vile". o.0 Comments are shut down at #1227, and "Internet getting full" is opened for further comments.
    • Fresh crackers!: 579 comments as of this writing
    • Commentary: It Gets Me! "So Bill Donohue, bumbling idiot, decides to go after my favorite blogger, all-around nice guy (except to religion!), and professor PZ Myers... ...For a cracker." Author admits to having abducted not one but two communion wafers without eating them.
    • Letters of support for PZ:
  • 2008-07-11
  • 2008-07-12
  • 2008-07-13: Mail dump: PZ posts a couple of insanely vile hate emails he recieved, along with full headers. The Pharyngulites go to work and are able to track down substantial identifying information on both of them.
  • 2008-07-14: Letter of support for PZ: En Tequila. Key point: people are more important than symbols.

Reference: Support PZ blog

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