2008 sacred wafer scandal
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About
The 2008 sacred wafer scandal was an incident in which the apparent misuse of a mass-produced replica of a sacred icon sparked mass religious outrage, sharp condemnation from religious leaders, and attempts to harshly punish the perpetrator and those who defended him.
- /facts: the facts which are not in dispute
- discussion
- /Catholic League: their position, with analysis
- /John Pieret vs. Woozle: attempt to map out a very long, tangled dialogue
Nomenclature
Also known as: Crackergate, Wafergate, Wafer Madness
Conclusions
The original perpetrator did not actually do anything wrong.
The Catholic Church, by its failure in this matter to rebuke those behaving poorly in its name or in its defense – especially those who claimed that Cook's act was "worse than a hate crime" – has merely sealed the coffin of its moral authority, already decimated by its indefensible stances on assisted suicide, contraception, and other issues. --Woozle 14:43, 10 October 2008 (UTC)
Links
Reference
Filed
News
- 2008-07-30 [L..T] 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 [L..T] 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.
- 2008-07-15 [L..T] Much ado about transubstantiation "In the previous post, I suggested that the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, which asserts that when the priest during the communion service consecrates the bread and wine, the bread becomes the actual body of Jesus and the wine becomes his actual blood, was a fairly bizarre thing to believe in this day and age and raised the possibility that perhaps even Catholics did not really believe in it but were just humoring the church by going along with a doctrine that came into being a long time ago."
- 2008-07-14 [L..T] 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?»
- 2008-07-11 [L..T] HYSTERIA MARKS MYERS AND HIS ILK "Yesterday, Catholic League president Bill Donohue issued a news release calling attention to the plea that Paul Zachary Myers made on his blog: he solicited the Communion Host for the express purpose of desecrating it. Donohue now responds to the reaction he has received from the University of Minnesota Morris professor, as well as others:"
- 2008-07-08 [L..T] 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?»
- 2008-07-06 [L..T] Student Holds Eucharist Hostage “Webster Cook is a student at the University of Central Florida. He is also a top notch jerk.”
- 2008-07-05 [L..T] '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.»
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
- Internet getting full, here's a new hole to dump comments into: only 156 comments as of this writing
- Can this possibly get more insane?: The Catholic League issues another press release disparaging evolution as the "King Kong Theory of Creation" and calling for increased safety at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, in view of their fear for the safety of attending Catholics so close to where Myers lives. Remember which side was issuing the death threats as you enter the Catholic annex of... The neocon reality inversion.
- I get email — special cracker edition!: a sampling of email PZ has received regarding this incident
- Interestingly, the link to Pharyngula has now (2008-07-11) disappeared from PZ's listing at UMM's biology faculty page. This would seem to be UMM's only link to it; is UMM responding to pressure?
- Commentary: It Gets Me! (Part II) "Bill Donohue continues on his anti-science, anti-PZ tirade with this new statement from the Catholic League. Of course, PZ, being awesome as he is, has already noted their response and torn it to shreds..."
- Commentary: Solidarity! by Tim Shortell, himself the past victim of anti-atheist sentiment
- 2008-07-12
- Commentary: Dispatches from the Culture Wars (Ed Brayton)
- Commentary: En Tequila Es Verdad
- Commentary: Majikthise believes PZ's request for wafers to desecrate was intended as a joke
- Woozle responds, as do many others
- FYI: the sock-puppetry of the defenders of Catholic outrage stands revealed
- Commentary: Dispatches from the Culture Wars (Ed Brayton)
- 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