It's a fucking wafer, people

Here's a strange story to ponder on.

A student of the University of Central Florida stole a blessed communion wafer (aka the Eucharist) from a Catholic Mass recently. Instead of putting it in his mouth, he allegedly attempted to bring the wafer back to his seat to show his friend who was curious about the Catholic faith, but was met with physical force to consume the wafer.

His claimed goal, though, was to inform other student senators of the activities involved in the Catholic Campus Ministry which receives about $40,000 from the SGA, money paid with student fees. Essentially, he is bringing up issues about using the fees paid by students to fund non-secular, and essentially non-public activities.

To add more interesting tidbits to the story, he has been threatened with physical violence, death, and the hopes of burning forever in the afterlife. Students have filed various complaints with the university and the SGA asking for disciplinary action and impeachment. The student has also filed a complaint with the university, claiming that the CCM is violating hazing policies by forcing participants to consume food.

Here is some more fascinating tidbits. PZ Myers, a professor of biology at the University of Minnesota Morris, recently commented on the whole ordeal at his blog, Pharyngula. In his commentary, he offered to desecrate a wafer and post images on the web. This had upset Bill Donohue of the Catholic League not once, but twice. Also in response to the initial blog post, Myers has been threatened several times by email from those claiming or implying to be Catholics (first email dump; second email dump).

So....my commentary...

We have a complete over-reaction of the Catholic community. Yes, I understand they value the 'Body of Christ' very much. Host desecration has been used as an excuse as the reason to burn "witches" and entire Jewish populations before during the 13th through the 17th century. The Catholics and other orthodoxically-oriented sects of Christianity have shown to call for blood when someone does harm to a wafer the Eucharist.

But at the end of the day, it's still a wafer and a cup of wine. Saying a couple of magical words does not make this piece of unleavened flour anything special. Especially not when it comes in a bag the size of dog food and stored away in the church's chambers until later consumption. Or, for those Catholics who travel a lot and may miss Mass on those business trips, convenient travel packs.

Was it wrong for the student to take the Eucharist in the first place? If he had foresight, he may have avoided the action due to the harassment after. But the action itself does not warrant physical violence done unto him, or even threats for physical violence. Devaluing the humanity of an individual to be equivalent to a piece of cooked gluten is perhaps the strangest mental exercise ever.

And it is ironic. The Eucharist is supposed to make those who take it to remember Jesus and honor his teachings and the supposed new covenant. I'm guessing all his talk about loving neighbors, doing unto others, and turning the other cheek and Paul's scorn to the Corinthians for greed and abuse of the symbolism got lost in keeping our sacred crows sacred. Nay, it is the human condition to still maintain esteemed materialism (eg. valuing a material object over humanity) even in a faith built by one who desired his followers to shed such earthly ties for Providence.

It's a fucking wafer, people. Get over yourselves.

Jesus and Cruise Missles Go Hand in Hand

Ah, my favorite Christian organization (Campus Crusade for Christ International) seems to be back in the news causing commotion. However, this time it's with the Pentagon.

The Pentagon's Inspector General recently released a 45-page report concerning the alleged misconduct of several DOD officials concerning the making of a religious video by Christian Embassy. Christian Embassy, according to its website, is a nonprofit, nonpolitical organization that "seeks to help diplomats, government leaders and military officers find real and lasting purpose through faith and encouragement." Clicking around on their site reveals they are associated with the CCCI, a known fundamentalist evangelical organization with a statement of faith as ridiculous as that movie Good Burger (except not as comical because the followers actually believe in it).

You can watch the movie in question here for self-amusement. It makes me a bit uneasy to see several top military leaders in a seemingly official capacity (eg rank and uniform) proclaiming their unyielding faith. My uneasiness isn't only because I feel their belief in the make-believe to be abhorrent (let bygones be bygones), but when proclaiming such nonsense in an official capacity makes it seem like the entire lot of our military are fanatical fundamentalists bent on spreading the gospel by rifle and missle. It's bad enough our government is ran by a man who is "born-again"; it would be nice to have some reassurance that there are some sane people left in the higher ranks of the organization whose mission is to protect our Constitution.

But who am I kidding? The American government (and now our military) seems to be a gathering place of kooks and woos. This video is just more of a wake-up call then anything else. It also contains a bit of irony. Pentagon chaplain Ralph Benson states his solution to the "war on terror":"What more do we need than Christian people leading us?" Ironic, because it seems like it was our President who under the moral compass and guidance of (his brand of) Christianity got us in this mess.

Piety is one thing, but I think we need more than just people who are pious to get out of this mess. Something tells me someone with good common sense and a strong head concerning foreign affairs would be more beneficial than someone who believes that God speaks to him or that modern morality should reflect the ancient writings of ignorant goat and sheep herders. This country's leaders make me sick at times.

(Hat tip: Pharyngula)