Today Pope Francis called for governments around the world to redistribute wealth to the poor in a new spirit of generosity to help curb the “economy of exclusion.”  He called on the United Nations to promote a “worldwide ethical mobilization” of solidarity with the poor – to promote a more equal form of economic progress through “the legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by the state as well as indispensable cooperation between the private sector and civil society.”

Put another way the leader of the world’s Catholics has decided legalized theft is moral and proper.  One’s earnings belong not to him but to those who are in need.  From each according to his ability – to each according to his need.  Hmmm…Pope Francis is a Marxist?

As Dennis Miller was fond of saying, “I don’t want to get off on a rant here but…”

Hard work and success are under attack from both government and religion.  Truth is truth regardless of how politically (in)correct it may be.  Closing our eyes to the reality won’t solve the problem.  Silence yields no results.  It’s time we summon our inner Howard Beale:

You’ve got to say, “I’m a HUMAN BEING, God damn it!  My life has VALUE!”  So I want you to get up now.  I want all of you to get up out of your chairs.  I want you to get up right now and go to the window.  Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, “I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!”  I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell – “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!” Things have got to change.  But first, you’ve gotta get mad!  You’ve got to say, “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!”

The Catholic Church enjoys tax-exempt status.  It holds vast (unearned) wealth in the form of gold and real estate (it owns more land in the U.S. than Uncle Sam – fact!) yet has the temerity to tell us what we should do with our money – the money we earned!  What happened to leading by example?  When will they give away their wealth?  When will they give up their tax-exemption?

It’s hubris in the highest form.  Listen to Loki (an angel kicked out of heaven in Kevin Smith’s provocative comedy Dogma) describe what religion does:

“Through the Looking Glass.”  That poem, “The Walrus and the Carpenter,” that’s an indictment of organized religion.  The walrus, with his girth and his good nature, he obviously represents either Buddha, or, with his tusks, the Hindu elephant god, Lord Ganesha.  That takes care of your Eastern religions.  Now the carpenter, which is an obvious reference to Jesus Christ, who was raised a carpenter’s son, he represents the Western religions.  Now in the poem, what do they do?  What do they do?  They dupe all these oysters into following them and then proceed to shuck and devour the helpless creatures en masse.  I don’t know what that says to you, but to me it says that following these faiths based on mythological figures ensures the destruction of one’s inner being.  Organized religion destroys who we are by inhibiting our actions, by inhibiting our decisions out of, out of fear of some, some intangible parent figure who, who shakes a finger at us from thousands of years ago and says, and says, “Do it…do it and I’ll fuckin’ spank you.”

As Eddie Vedder sings in Getaway:

And if you want to have to pray, it’s alright…We all be thinking with our different brains

Get this off my plate, it’s alright…I got my own way to believe

It’s OK, sometimes you find yourself having to put all your faith in no faith

Mine is mine and yours won’t take its place…now make your getaway

The point is simple.  We are all free to believe/disbelieve what we wish – to accept/deny whatever pleases us – to choose as we see fit.  There is no right or wrong.  No one should judge.  But it’s a choice.  No pandering to the masses government or hypocritical religion has any right to steal from us by force, legislation, emotional blackmail or any other means.  These people must be held accountable.  Food for thought the next time we go to the polls or the collection plate makes its way to us.

It’s best summed by the irony of Reverend Lovejoy from The Simpsons as he ministers to Sunday mass and denounces so-called cults:

“…‘new religion’ is nothing but a pack of weird rituals and chants designed to take away the money of fools.  Now let us say the Lord’s Prayer 40 times, but first let’s pass the collection plate!”