Then they opened their mouths and removed all doubt.

There were some attacks on me over the last couple days because I (in a moment of stupidity) responded to a anti-Catholic bigot who had launched a mendacious attack on the Church.

In a moment of weakness, I cared.  Oh well.

The twitter attack was based on a story circulating that Pope Francis had allegedly “criminalized the reporting of sex crimes”.

Anyone with half a brain would realize that such a story was a complete joke.

That didn’t prevent some low-information types from having a spittle-flecked nutty for all to see on Twitter.

The problem is that they got their story from a parody, “satirical news” site, Newslo, rather like The Onion.  

In other words their brainless hate-filled attacks were based on a spoof, on a joke, on a prank.  A lie.

They were completely duped.

But wait! There’s more!

The site Strange Notions has the goods on the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science.  The oh-so-superior atheistic secular humanist elite fell for it too. They posted their brilliant observations on their Facebook page:

“According to the new laws, revealing or receiving confidential Vatican information is now punishable by up to two years in prison, while newly defined sex crimes against children carry a sentence of up to twelve years. Because all sex crimes are kept confidential, there is no longer a legal way for Vatican officials to report sex crimes.”

I think the Dawkins people removed their public prat-fall from their page.  Maybe one of you can find it again.

Remember, everyone, atheists are smarter than you are!

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
This entry was posted in Lighter fare, Our Catholic Identity, The Last Acceptable Prejudice, Throwing a Nutty and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

19 Comments

  1. mamajen says:

    What a stupid joke to begin with! On what planet would that be considered funny?

  2. dominic1955 says:

    The “Mormon heathen” chick reminds me of all the angsty college kiddies who are still miffed at the world because they found out Santa Claus isn’t real and now they got some book learnin under their belt and lo and behold, they’re atheists because science proves god doesn’t exist. They stamp their little feet and shake their little fists at all the superstitious knuckledraggers who aren’t enlightened like they are with their little piece of paper that says they graduated. That will show them! and so will my booty-shot profile pic!

    I would find these people a lot more funny if society wasn’t as stupid as it is in following that same path. Seems like we are at that point the Desert Fathers told of when most men would be mad but would denigrate the few sane people left as being mad because they are not like them…

  3. acricketchirps says:

    I went to the Newslo site. They have a button to highlight the true parts of the stories. The parts remaining unhighlighted are parody–the majority of the text. It kind of takes the fun out of it.

  4. Bea says:

    Remember, everyone, atheists are smarter than you are!

    I digress:
    If they were, they’d be Catholics.

  5. OrthodoxChick says:

    The Dawkins Foundation took the posting down from their facebook page but bits of their post were captured by another Catholic blog:

    http://www.catholicvirtue.org/2013/08/26/richard-dawkins-foundation-criticizes-vatican-based-on-satire-news-site/

  6. OrthodoxChick says:

    I should clarify. The Catholic blog captured the post on the Dawkins Foundation FB page, and bits of the followers’ responses.

    Sorry ’bout that.

  7. mamajen says:

    I know firsthand that many atheists are not that smart. I was always a top student throughout school (not tooting my own horn, just stating a fact), but over time it seems that anyone can pass themselves off as an intellectual. Some of the people who I could run circles round academically/intellectually emerged from college and decided they’re experts on all manner of subjects. It’s kind of amusing when it’s not annoying. The most militant atheists I know have divorced themselves from God due to their own immoral behavior, and I suspect are afraid or feel unworthy of a relationship with Him. I always hold out hope, though. One of my friends, formerly an “atheist” shocked me by returning to the Catholic Church, and is now very actively involved.

  8. msc says:

    Kind of amazing these people thought that the Church can pass laws. Maybe they were thinking of Canon law. But otherwise where would this law be in effect: Vatican City? Twits.

  9. benedetta says:

    Sorry to hear what you had to endure, Father.

    Now that I think about it, this seems like an excellent time to restock the Mystic Monk supply for fall. Oh, and order homeschooling curriculum and supplies through the Amazon link located to the upper right of this page. And while we’re at it, hit the ‘donate’ button…

  10. Desertfalcon says:

    In regards to “Mormon Heathen”, having many LDS family and friends, including many who are now ex-members of that church, I can tell you that there is no more a militant anti-religious sort, than an ex-Mormon. I call it the, “burn the whole SOB down” syndrome. The trauma and sense of being lied to that they felt when they began the process of leaving that church, spills over in their assessment of every other religious tradition. It’s a very different world among active and former members of that church. It can’t be explained in a single comment but suffice it to say, there is a real sense of betrayal toward those who even question their faith and leaving, is usually very traumatic with very real consequences involving marriages, family, friends, even jobs. They never get over it. As active Mormons put it, “they can leave the church…but they can’t leave it alone.” When I have managed to entice any of them to try attending Mass with me, they are usually shocked at the very different vibe and spirituality of orthodox Catholicism compared to how they were raised. Of course, that is in a way of understanding a probable genesis of and not an excuse for what ‘Heathen’ posted.

  11. acricketchirps says:

    Also went to the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science facebook page. Recommend it highly. They have a poster about a person who built a prosthetic leg out of lego (heh!)– but the caption is Legos (sic): 1 God: 0. Hilarious.

  12. maryh says:

    What’s just as bad are all the comments to the Newslo article on the Newslo site itself. Apparently, almost nobody commenting on the satire web site itself realized it was a satire. I saw only one comment that actually recognized the article was a spoof.

  13. Supertradmum says:

    Spiritual warfare on line on my blog and twitter has been increasing, with more problems of nastiness including bad language, and personal attacks on me and my son, in the last six weeks than I have had since I started blogging in 2007.

    The evil one must know we are doing something right. Carry on, Father Z, as these are just battle wounds which will get you extra stripes on your Church Militant Cassock.

  14. Supertradmum says: Church Militant Cassock

    I thought all cassocks are “Church Militant Cassocks”.

  15. The Cobbler says:

    You people seriously have your blinders on. Just last week secret albino assassin cyborg ninja pirate cowboy monks from Pope Francis’s omnivorous puppet overlords kidnapped my brother’s apartment neighbor for reasons that were made perfectly clear only in those papal bulls of which they won’t put up translations other than Hungarian.

  16. Martlet says:

    I’m going through this very thing at the moment on Facebook, with some of the ladies from my former (very Catholic) high school. It is a younger group in particular – one of whom claims not to be a Wiccan) who are the worst. They have come out with the most outrageous slurs against Catholics (which I can stand) and the Lord Himself (which I cannot) and I do care very much. If it were just them, I would “shake the dust” but there are a hundred or so other members, some still practicing their faith, others not, and it is those I hope to reach but I am doing it alone and it gets hard. So, if anyone feels like adding me to their prayers that I will have skin like leather and find the right words — and for them, especially the witch — I would be sooooo grateful.

  17. Trisagion says:

    Si tacuisse, Philosophus mansisse.

  18. Kathleen10 says:

    Martlet, I used to be you. Fought those battles. I’ve since stopped in most circumstances, and one of the reasons why is the scripture passage “Cast not your pearls before swine”. I was casting some serious pearls before some ugly swine. It took me a long time to find out true God haters are not likely to change no matter what they hear.
    Discussing God, Catholicism, faith, life, death, taxes, and so on, is a good thing, but when you are discussing these weighty matters with either imbeciles or, unrepentant haters of God, you will not likely make headway. Many people enjoy having the opportunity to do battle with someone, anyone, and getting a chance to insult God and throw around some circular logic with which they hope to tie you up and get you heated, is fatiguing, to say the least. In the end, what you come to is the realization that nobody profited and nothing was changed. It takes two reasonably intelligent and reasonably open people to have an actual discussion, even a debate. One reasonably intelligent person is one short. Can’t be done. Say a quick prayer for them and save your energy for better things.

  19. Angie Mcs says:

    I am on Facebook, so I can see photos of family and briefly keep in touch with a few far away friends. Otherwise, I have made a pact with myself to avoid subjects regarding religion and politics. It’s hard sometimes, I must admit. I will respond briefly if someone ” shares” an obnoxious article and I will say I think it’s unkind or nasty. Yet I wouldn’t get into anything in depth. There’s something about the internet that can bring out the worst in people, and on Facebook one can have 500 ” friends”. Meaningless. One can discuss these things on an intelligently, morally moderated site, and Facebook ain’t it!

    Martlet, you must do what you think is best but perhaps a mass intention for your problematic friends would be nice, then end the discussion. It sounds like it is causing you stress and you’re only providing them with fodder for their nastiness. Didn’t Jesus say ” If they hate you, remember they hated me first? ” You are in good company!

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