Thalamus Center - Early Childhood Psychological Development Growing Up Gay - M Kurylowicz

GAY MARRIAGE - Benedict XVI Dismisses Science Reason – NATURAL LAW | Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely | PART 1

2012-01-23T17:21:00.035-05:00

This posting is part of a larger one and was sent out as a US mailing prior to posting here on the Thalamus Center

Introduction

This is the beginning post of a series that attempts to analyze Benedict XVI and the hierarchy subtle systematic increments of often-disguised antigay propaganda, how innocent people unknowingly are colluding by their silence, how it leads to the devaluation other groups, and what suggestions might helpful to begin to stop it not only for gay people but for every human being. This first post begins with an attempt to explain the different perspectives of how Natural Law viewed by others and then to understand Benedict XVI’s elitist attitude, the inordinate importance he seems to place on his use of Natural Law concept, which is over and beyond that of the Gospels and scientific research.

An Overview of Benedict XVI’s Natural Law

Benedict XVI sole reliance on Natural Law without reason / science - above the spoken words of Christ led him into absurdity into many areas, especially regarding his public remarks against gay marriage (a surreal quality) that became and remains life-threatening to innocent people in the world, especially children. His understanding is that to contradict Natural Law is to bring on the destruct of the world. This is one of his reasons to deprive gay people of their civil rights. However, Natural Law is a theory, a human construct and that is not above the Gospels. “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. “They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.” Photo

“The term “natural law” is ambiguous.” “In the history of human thought few words have created as much confusion as the words "nature" and "law…” Natural Law is not without its critics - claiming that it is “rhetorical nonsense,” and “nonsense upon stilts.” It is a false impression that Law is rooted in Natural Law, it is in the will of the sovereign. There is a superimposed esoteric quality, an elitist attitude that Benedict XVI assumes in his understanding and use of Natural Law that by definition eliminates it from the realm of Catholicism. Meaning that governing the Church is relegated to a very small group. “Among intellectuals who consider themselves ‘scientific,’" who insist, “…faith in the supernatural is deemed necessary to belief in natural law the latter concept must be tossed out of scientific, secular discourse, and be consigned to the arcane sphere of the divine studies.” “It is an additional mistake to think that any rights are unalterable…Hence the famous slogan…'natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense, nonsense upon stilts.'” (Reference links to the above are found below.)

“The idea of a natural law founded on reason and rational inquiry has been virtually lost.” Benedict XVI almost immediately after becoming pope – he removed all the scientists that Pope John Paul II had insisted be on all the committees in the Vatican. Benedict XVI is the head of state of the Vatican. To “…stress that the very existence of a natural law discoverable by reason is a potentially powerful threat to the status quo and a standing reproach to the reign of blindly traditional custom or the arbitrary will of the State apparatus.” “While natural-law theory has often been used erroneously in defense of the political status quo, its radical and "revolutionary" implications were brilliantly understood by the great Catholic libertarian historian Lord Acton.

“In 1870 came the great crisis in Catholicism over the First Vatican Council's promulgation of the doctrine of papal infallibility.”

“…I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favourable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption it is the other way, against the holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority, still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.” (Reference links to the above are found below.)

Benedict XVI has no oversight, which has led to, as we have found out, immeasurable human atrocities of the decades of child sexual abuse cover-ups and worst. Benedict XVI non-existence oversight has been in actuality and continues to threaten humanity’s future. And the silence of Catholics is a form of collusion that allows Benedict XVI free reign to continue his human atrocities, even beyond the decades of child sexual abuse cover-ups yet to be revealed. Though not limited to - Benedict XVI and the hierarchy are continuously devaluing gay people, while ignoring all the research data that sexual orientation is a normal part of human development and the fact the bible does not condemn homosexuality.

Presently there are 3 areas that desperately need true Catholic oversight to kill the silence, end the collusion harming children and the cover-ups and to help protect all humanity, beginning with but not listed in order of importance:

1. Minnesota’s Archbishop Nienstedt step over the line bringing his disguised anti-gay propaganda into the mass, presented as a prayer for marriage. This of course is sacrilegious.

2. Benedict XVI has appointed Archbishop Dolan of NY to be made a Cardinal. Dolan has been relentless more than any other member of the hierarchy in his public anti-gay propaganda against gay people.

3. Benedict XVI issued a New English Mass Translation in November 2011. However, this new translation has been put together during a time that the main focus of Benedict XVI and all of the Vatican should have been resolving and ministering to the child sexual abuse victims, globally. As we know through news media the overwhelming majority of these cases have not be even touched. Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5:23-24

To be continued:

Fr. Marty Kurylowicz

Benedict XVI - Demeaning Accusations of Gay People -

Lacking Evidence / Reason – Corruption of Natural Law

All human life is sacred. Human life is never to be devalued or demeaned in any way by anyone. To deliberately devalue anyone or any group of human beings while others remain silent is what will destroy humanity as a whole – not gay marriage (Pope: Gay marriage threatens humanity’s future, Jan. 9, 2012).

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere"

Martin Luther King

‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:34

NATURAL LAW - "NONSENSE UPON STILTS"

"NATURAL LAW" AND LAWS OF NATURE

In the history of human thought few words have created as much confusion as the words "nature" and "law". They can assume very different meanings, and these meanings are not always made sufficiently clear. Indeed, when people use the words in an argument, they often switch from one meaning to another without becoming aware of it and thus trap themselves in logical fallacies.

http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/ATLAS_EN/html/natural_law_and_the_laws_of_na.html

NATURAL LAW is AMBIGUOUS

The term “natural law” is ambiguous. It refers to a type of moral theory, as well as to a type of legal theory, but the core claims of the two kinds of theory are logically independent. It does not refer to the laws of nature, the laws that science aims to describe. According to natural law moral theory, the moral standards that govern human behavior are, in some sense, objectively derived from the nature of human beings and the nature of the world. While being logically independent of natural law legal theory, the two theories intersect.

http://www.iep.utm.edu/natlaw/

LAWS OF NATURE

Laws of Nature are to be distinguished both from Scientific Laws and from Natural Laws.

http://www.iep.utm.edu/lawofnat/

NATURAL LAW - "NONSENSE UPON STILTS"

Jeremy Bentham (15 February 1748 – 6 June 1832) was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. He became a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law…

His position included arguments in favour of individual and economic freedom, usury, the separation of church and state, freedom of expression, equal rights for women, the right to divorce, and the decriminalising of homosexual acts. He argued for the abolition of slavery and the death penalty and for the abolition of physical punishment, including that of children. Although strongly in favour of the extension of individual legal rights, he opposed the idea of natural law and natural rights, calling them "nonsense upon stilts."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Bentham

HOMOSEXUALITY IS NOT UNNATURAL

A Offense Against God to refer otherwise

Homosexuality is not unnatural. It is normal part of human development, according to research from all the major medical and mental health associations (references listed below). Sexual orientation is set either just before birth or very soon afterwards. Pope John Paul II was not afraid of the truth. He was able to move forward towards acceptance of homosexuality because he insisted that scientists and theologians work together in committees at the Vatican, this information comes from sources inside the Vatican.

The Right Law Is One In Accordance With Reason

Bentham's aim is to produce felicity, happiness. The means to be employed are 'reason and law': the right law will produce happiness, and the right law is one in accordance with reason. This means one in accordance with the principle of utility. In Bentham's draft codes of law, each particular law was attached to a 'commentary of reasons on this law'. The commentary demonstrated its value and also, Bentham hoped, improved its effect. For, as he says elsewhere, 'power gives reason to law for the moment, but it is upon reason that it must depend for its stability.'

http://mises.org/daily/2426

Natural Law and Reason

Among intellectuals who consider themselves "scientific," the phrase "the nature of man" is apt to have the effect of a red flag on a bull. "Man has no nature!" is the modern rallying cry and typical of the sentiment of political philosophers today was the assertion of a distinguished political theorist some years ago before a meeting of the American Political Science Association that "man's nature" is a purely theological concept that must be dismissed from any scientific discussion.

In the controversy over man's nature, and over the broader and more controversial concept of "natural law," both sides have repeatedly proclaimed that natural law and theology are inextricably intertwined. As a result, many champions of natural law, in scientific or philosophic circles, have gravely weakened their case by implying that rational, philosophical methods alone cannot establish such law: that theological faith is necessary to maintain the concept. On the other hand, the opponents of natural law have gleefully agreed; since faith in the supernatural is deemed necessary to belief in natural law, the latter concept must be tossed out of scientific, secular discourse, and be consigned to the arcane sphere of the divine studies. In consequence, the idea of a natural law founded on reason and rational inquiry has been virtually lost.

The Ethics of Liberty - Murray N. Rothbard

http://mises.org/daily/2426

Benedict XVI Dismisses Science Reason – Natural Law

It was also revealed that almost immediately after Ratzinger became Benedict XVI 2005, he had all the scientists removed from committees in the Vatican. At that time there was real shock and concerned for people as to how could theologians alone make decisions regarding sexual orientation. This truly began the point of the blind leading the blind. It was not only that the scientists who were removed, but Benedict XVI dismissed all scientific data, as irrelevant. This becomes painfully obvious in Benedict XVI and the hierarchy’s irrational public statements regarding homosexuals and gay marriage because they are completely divorced from reality. Benedict XVI after removing all the scientists then all he had left was to obsessively focus on a human construct such as “natural law,” which is meaningless without the insight of science. All that Benedict XVI knows is “natural law” concepts, however, this is an incomplete picture of the world of all that God created, because it negates the ability of human mind to continually to explore, to discover and to learn. This ability of the human mind is what makes life fascinating – continually, most especially when it discovers love and its endless complexities that are all slices of heaven.

Natural Law - Reign of Blindly Traditional Custom or Arbitrary Will

If, then, the natural law is discovered by reason from "the basic inclinations of human nature … absolute, immutable, and of universal validity for all times and places," it follows that the natural law provides an objective set of ethical norms by which to gauge human actions at any time or place. The natural law is, in essence, a profoundly "radical" ethic, for it holds the existing status quo, which might grossly violate natural law, up to the unsparing and unyielding light of reason. In the realm of politics or State action, the natural law presents man with a set of norms which may well be radically critical of existing positive law imposed by the State. At this point, we need only stress that the very existence of a natural law discoverable by reason is a potentially powerful threat to the status quo and a standing reproach to the reign of blindly traditional custom or the arbitrary will of the State apparatus.

In fact, the legal principles of any society can be established in three alternate ways: (a) by following the traditional custom of the tribe or community; (b) by obeying the arbitrary, ad hoc will of those who rule the State apparatus; or (c) by the use of man's reason in discovering the natural law — in short, by slavish conformity to custom, by arbitrary whim, or by use of man's reason. These are essentially the only possible ways for establishing positive law. Here we may simply affirm that the latter method is at once the most appropriate for man at his most nobly and fully human, and the most potentially "revolutionary" vis-à-vis any given status quo…

While natural-law theory has often been used erroneously in defense of the political status quo, its radical and "revolutionary" implications were brilliantly understood by the great Catholic libertarian historian Lord Acton. Acton saw clearly that the deep flaw in the ancient Greek — and their later followers' — conception of natural law political philosophy was to identify politics and morals, and then to place the supreme social moral agent in the State. From Plato and Aristotle, the State's proclaimed supremacy was founded in their view that "morality was undistinguished from religion and politics from morals; and in religion, morality, and politics there was only one legislator and one authority."

The Ethics of Liberty - Murray N. Rothbard

http://mises.org/rothbard/ethics/three.asp

“‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’”

Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”

Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”

He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” Matthew 15:8-14

PAPAL INFALLIBILITY

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Lord Acton

In 1870 came the great crisis in Catholicism over the First Vatican Council's promulgation of the doctrine of papal infallibility. Lord Acton, who was in complete sympathy on this subject with Döllinger, went to Rome in order to throw all his influence against it, but the step he so much dreaded was not to be averted. The Old Catholic separation followed, but Acton did not personally join the seceders, and the authorities prudently refrained from forcing the hand of so competent and influential an English layman. It was in this context that, in a letter he wrote to scholar and ecclesiastic Mandell Creighton, dated April 1887, Acton made his most famous pronouncement:

But if we might discuss this point until we found that we nearly agreed, and if we do agree thoroughly about the impropriety of Carlylese denunciations and Pharisaism in history, I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favourable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption it is the other way, against the holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority, still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it. That is the point at which the negation of Catholicism and the negation of Liberalism meet and keep high festival, and the end learns to justify the means. You would hang a man of no position like Ravaillac; but if what one hears is true, then Elizabeth asked the gaoler to murder Mary, and William III. ordered his Scots minister to extirpate a clan. Here are the greatest names coupled with the greatest crimes; you would spare those criminals, for some mysterious reason. I would hang them higher than Haman, for reasons of quite obvious justice, still more, still higher for the sake of historical science…

Letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, April 5, 1887 published in Historical Essays and Studies, edited by J. N. Figgis and R. V. Laurence (London: Macmillan, 1907)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dalberg-Acton,_1st_Baron_Acton

http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1407&Itemid=283

Benedict XVI and the hierarchy’

Implicit Child Abuse -

Irresponsible Anti-gay & Disguised Anti-gay Public Statements

To assign a child who is gay to a loveless life is against natural law, this it is inhumane. Scientific research reveals that sexual orientation is set before the age of reason; therefore there is no evil intent or intrinsic disordering (a meaningless term that used by Benedict XVI has yet to be defined). Research data explains that a child raised in an anti-gay social environment of non-acceptance places a child at risk, depression, isolation, suicidal ideation, drug addiction, and actuality of future goals.

Family Acceptance Project™

http://familyproject.sfsu.edu/overview

In-Depth Family Interviews, Case Studies and Surveys

http://familyproject.sfsu.edu/research

Gay Marriage - Improves Health

“Marriage equality advocates have another reason to feel dedicated to their cause today, as a revelatory new study has found that the health of gay men living in states with laws allowing same-sex couples to wed actually improves their health, even if they don't get hitched.” Same sex couples in relationships are in fact sacred because of their commitment to love and deserve the sanity of marriage and that it should be celebrated in a Church - even a Catholic Church. In any thing less is to ridicule, to dehumanize them and this is sacrilegious, because it is not only mocking the couple’s love but God, as well.

Same-Sex Marriage Improves Health Conditions Among Gay Men: Columbia University Study – December 16, 2011

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/16/same-sex-marriage-gay-men-health_n_1154201.html

Homosexuality | Natural Law

Queer Theory and the Social Construction of Sexuality

Metaphysics Research Lab - Stanford University - February 11, 2011

The debates about homosexuality, in part because they often involve public policy and legal issues, tend to be sharply polarized. Those most concerned with homosexuality, positively or negatively, are also those most engaged, with natural law theorists arguing for gays and lesbians having a reduced legal status, and queer theorists engaged in critique and deconstruction of what they see as a heterosexist regime. Yet the two do not talk much to one another, but rather ignore or talk past one another. There are some theorists in the middle. For example, Michael Sandel takes an Aristotelian approach from which he argues that gay and lesbian relationships can realize the same goods that heterosexual relationships do (Sandel, 1995). He largely shares the account of important human goods that natural law theorists have, yet in his evaluation of the worth of same-sex relationships, he is clearly sympathetic to gay and lesbian concerns. Similarly, Bruce Bawer (1993) and Andrew Sullivan (1995) have written eloquent defenses of full legal equality for gays and lesbians, including marriage rights.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/homosexuality/#QueTheSocConSex

How “Natural Law” Supports Gay Marriage, Gay Adoption – July 23, 2011

“Natural law” is widely quoted as justification for arguments against homoerotic relationships and sexual expression: many of the laws that used to exist, where they did not use the word “sodomy”, relied on terms such as “crimes against nature”. However, whenever I draw on evidence from the world of nature to show that same-sex intercourse is in fact commonly observed throughout the animal kingdom, and so cannot be said to be “against nature” at all, I know that somebody will argue that this is not, in fact, what “natural law” means at all.

http://queeringthechurch.com/2011/07/23/how-natural-law-supports-gay-marriage-gay-adoption/

Smugness – Natural Law – Galileo

The smugness of some of the proponents of natural law and Galileo, fail to see that homosexuality is found in all societies and every species of the animal kingdom. However, these proponents tend to be blind about the true issues of natural law and tend to be subjective and arbitrary in their debate, negating science. They still remain being the blind leading the blind. It is their smugness, which is pride and fear that keeps them blind. Jesus even cautions saying to leave them. Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit” (Matthew 15:8-14). Loving another person is not unnatural therefore it is not against natural law What is unnatural are the adults projecting their private sexual erotic thoughts, wishes and desires onto another human being and then condemning a whole specific population of human beings. “How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye”(Luke 6:42). The politicians who fearlessly condemn homosexual behavior as unnatural were found in public restroom having sex.

Top 10 Anti-Gay Politicians & Activists Caught Being Gay: Out of The Closet

George Rekers, Pastor Eddie Long, Troy King, Ted Haggard, Glenn Murphy Jr., David Dreier, Bruce Barclay, Roy Ashburn, Jim West, Larry Craig, Ed Schrock, Robert Allen, Mark Foley, Phillip Hinkle

http://www.ranker.com/list/top-10-anti-gay-activists-caught-being-gay/joanne

Vatican - Procuring Male Prostitutes – March 4, 2010

The Vatican was today rocked by a sex scandal reaching into Pope Benedict's household after a chorister was sacked for allegedly procuring male prostitutes for a papal gentleman-in-waiting.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/04/vatican-gay-sex-scandal

NATURAL LAW - "Nonsense Upon Stilts" - Jeremy Bentham

Jeremy Bentham (15 February 1748 – 6 June 1832) was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. He became a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law…His position included arguments in favour of individual and economic freedom, usury, the separation of church and state, freedom of expression, equal rights for women, the right to divorce, and the decriminalising of homosexual acts. He argued for the abolition of slavery and the death penalty and for the abolition of physical punishment, including that of children. Although strongly in favour of the extension of individual legal rights, he opposed the idea of natural law and natural rights, calling them "nonsense upon stilts."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Bentham

Natural Law | Will of the Sovereign

Bentham held that law is not rooted in a “natural law” but is simply a command expressing the will of the sovereign…

According to Bentham, then, the term “natural right” is a “perversion of language.” It is “ambiguous,” “sentimental” and “figurative” and it has anarchical consequences.

http://www.iep.utm.edu/bentham/

Natural Rights |Timeless & Unalterable - is Simple Nonsense

Bentham's most famous slogan expressing this view is 'nonsense on stilts'. This comes from his critical analysis of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen in a work usually known as Anarchical Fallacies (which, in fact, is Dumont's title). Bentham's claim is that language which looks as if it is describing what rights there actually are is in fact suggesting what rights there ought to be. That is, instead of citing existing rights, the French Declaration is giving reasons why there ought to be rights. As Bentham puts it in Anarchical Fallacies, 'a reason for wishing that a certain right were established, is not that right; want is not supply; hunger is not bread'. So to suppose that such rights actually exist is nonsense. Even worse is to suppose that we can be sure that the correct rights have been found for all time. For Bentham is a promoter of experimentation. We have to keep seeing what utility is actually produced by particular systems of rights. Hence it is an additional mistake to think that any rights are unalterable (indefeasible, imprescriptible). This mistake was also made by the French. Hence the famous slogan. The complete remark from which it comes is 'natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense, nonsense upon stilts.'

http://www.utilitarian.net/bentham/about/1995----.htm

Benedict XVI Anti-Gay Obsession - Void of Reason

Threatens All of Humanity

What threatens the future of humanity is the abandonment of reason. (1) This is especially true when a world religious leader, such as Benedict XVI, intentionally and consistently makes public demeaning statements targeting gay people worldwide. Benedict XVI completely denies the global authoritative evidence to the contrary, that sexual orientation is a normal part of human development and (2) that a child growing up gay is susceptible, as any child is to harsh negative rejection abuse, which causes life long devastating effects.

Benedict XVI abandoned reason in the same way that the Vatican’s Church Officials and the Pope condemned Galileo as a heretic for stating that the earth revolves around the sun, which is contrary to numerously passages in the bible that the earth does not move. However, nearly 350 years later, Pope John Paul II apologized to Galileo for this gross negligence of the use of reason. “The Vatican's formal acknowledgement of an error, moreover, is a rarity in an institution built over centuries on the belief that the Church is the final arbiter in matters of faith…Pope John Paul II himself has said that the scientist was ‘imprudently opposed.’"

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/31/world/after-350-years-vatican-says-galileo-was-right-it-moves.html

Reference links:

Trial of Galileo Galilei – 1633

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/galileo/galileo.html

Pope: Gay marriage threatens humanity’s future - January 9, 2012

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/pope-gay-marriage-threatens-humanity-future-article-1.1003549

Psychology of Violence - David Livingstone Smith

http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2012/01/we-human-beings-have-remarkable-ability.html

Family Acceptance Project™

http://familyproject.sfsu.edu/family-videos

Attachment Theory

http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/attachment-supporting-young-childrens-emotional-wellbeing-2358

Do People Choose Their Sexual Orientation?

http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/feelings/sexual_orientation.html

Science of Sexual Orientation

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/09/60minutes/main1385230_page3.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody

Sexual Orientation is about Love – to be one with another…

http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2010/11/sexual-orientation-is-less-about-sex.html

Homosexuality & The Bible

http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2011/03/homosexuality-bible-galileo-homophobia.html

After 350 Years, Vatican Says Galileo Was Right: It Moves – October 31, 1992

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/31/world/after-350-years-vatican-says-galileo-was-right-it-moves.html

“Know Yourself” Pope John Paul II - Encyclical Letter - …On The Relationship  Between Faith And Reason – September 15, 1998

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_15101998_fides-et-ratio_en.html

GALILEO'S BATTLE FOR THE HEAVENS - October 29, 2002

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2912_galileo.html

More reference links:
http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2012/01/gay-marriage-catholicism-and_05.html

Benedict XVI’s Child Sexual Abuse - Cover-ups

Against Authoritative Research

Wrongfully Shifts Blame Onto Gays

(3) Benedict XVI and the hierarchy have continually tried to evade their responsibility for the 3 past decades of covering up the child sexual abuse cases by shifting the blame onto homosexuals as the root cause for the child sexual abuse. However, authoritative research for the past several decades has clearly stated that homosexual orientation is not the cause of child sexual abuse, though Benedict XVI has ignored these findings.

Facts About Homosexuality and Child Molestation

http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_molestation.html

John Jay Criminal Justice Initial Report on Child Sexual Abuse - November 17, 2009

…the John Jay report confirms other studies in concluding that sexual orientation is NOT connected to pedophilia or other sex crimes.

Some bishops, however, said it is too early to draw conclusions about the researchers' findings.

"I wouldn't put a lot of credence in it," said Archbishop John Nienstedt of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis…He has also written that HOMOSEXUAL ORIENTATION IS THE RESULT OF CHILDHOOD TRAUMA.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston said Nov. 18 that the researchers' conclusions still "need to be teased out."

…But the view that gay men are largely responsible for the sexual abuse scandal PERVADES THE CHURCH HIERARCHY, said David Gibson, a Catholic journalist and author, and will not necessarily be overcome by the John Jay study.

"I think it will give cover to the bishops who want to continue to admit gay men into the seminary, as I think a majority of them want to do," Gibson said. "For those bishops dead-set against having any homosexuals in the priesthood, it won't make a difference."

David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said that "the fixation on gay priests" as the cause of the sex scandal "is part of a long litany of simplistic, wrong-headed solutions and SCAPE-GOATING," by the Catholic hierarchy.

"Sadly, many Catholics have already reached that conclusion though, due

to the bishops' spin," Clohessy said. "The real issue continues to be the bishops' bad behavior."

http://ncronline.org/news/praise-report-gay-priests-and-sex-abuse

New Catholic Sex Abuse Findings: Gay Priests Are Not the Problem – November 18, 2009

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/11/18/new-catholic-sex-abuse-findings-gay-priests-not-the-problem/

John Jay FINIAL Report on Clergy Abuse in the Catholic Church – “... NO causative relationship between…homosexuality and the sexual victimization of children in the Church.” May 18, 2011

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/do-the-right-thing/201105/the-new-john-jay-report-clergy-abuse-in-the-catholic-church

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/r/roman_catholic_church_sex_abuse_cases/index.html

To be continued:

Fr. Marty Kurylowicz

What you cannot do is accept injustice.

From Hitler – or anyone.

You must make the injustice visible

– be prepared to die like a

soldier to do so.

Mahatma Gandhi

Kids Are Being Hurt!!!

Photo

Roman Catholic Hierarchy child sexual abuse “cover-ups” ordered by Benedict XVI to avoid public outrage & criminal charges falsely accused gay priests, WATERGATE? – December 17, 2009

http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2010/01/rc-hierarchy-child-sexual-abuse-cover.htm

“Someday, maybe, there will exist a well-informed, well considered and yet fervent public conviction that the most deadly of all possible sins is the mutilation of a child’s spirit.”

Erik Erikson

…whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Matthew 18:6

Important note: No disrespect meant to Pope Benedict XVI or the hierarchy, the one and only concern is the safety and well-being of children.

2012 - Benedict XVI & Hierarchy – Ongoing - Dehumanizing Propaganda of Gay People

2012-01-10T18:38:00.021-05:00

Benedict XVI - Pope: Gay marriage threatens humanity’s future

January 9, 2012

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/pope-gay-marriage-threatens-humanity-future-article-1.1003549

All tyranny needs

gain a foothold

for people

good conscience

remain silent.

Thomas Jefferson

Propaganda

Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group...

Propaganda is a powerful weapon in war; it is used to dehumanize and create hatred toward a supposed enemy, either internal or external, by creating a false image in the mind. This can be done by using derogatory or racist terms, avoiding some words or by making allegations of enemy atrocities. Most propaganda wars require the home population to feel the enemy has inflicted an injustice, which may be fictitious or may be based on facts. The home population must also decide that the cause of their nation is just.

Propaganda is also one of the methods used in psychological warfare, which may also involve false flag operations. The term propaganda may also refer to false information meant to reinforce the mindsets of people who already believe as the propagandist wishes. The assumption is that, if people believe something false, they will constantly be assailed by doubts. Since these doubts are unpleasant (see cognitive dissonance), people will be eager to have them extinguished, and are therefore receptive to the reassurances of those in power. For this reason propaganda is often addressed to people who are already sympathetic to the agenda. This process of reinforcement uses an individual's predisposition to self-select "agreeable" information sources as a mechanism for maintaining control...

Read more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda

Propaganda Techniques

Edward Filene helped establish the Institute of Propaganda Analysis in 1937 to educate the American public about the nature of propaganda and how to recognize propaganda techniques. Filene and his colleagues identified the seven most common "tricks of the trade" used by successful propagandists (Marlin 102-106: Propaganda Critic: Introduction). These seven techniques are called:

Name Calling
Glittering Generalities
Transfer
Testimonial
Plain Folks
Card Stacking
Band Wagon

These techniques are designed to fool us because the appeal to our emotions rather than to our reason. The techniques identified by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis are further refined by Aaron Delwich in his website, Propaganda where he "discusses various propaganda techniques, provides contemporary examples of their use, and proposes strategies of mental self-defense." By pointing out these techniques, we hope to join with others who have written on this topic to create awareness and encourage serious consideration of the influence of contemporary propaganda directed at us through the various media and suggest ways to guard against its influence on our lives.

Name Calling: Propagandists use this technique to create fear and arouse prejudice by using negative words (bad names) to create an unfavorable opinion or hatred against a group, beliefs, ideas or institutions they would have us denounce. This method calls for a conclusion without examining the evidence. Name Calling is used as a substitute for arguing the merits of an idea, belief, or proposal. It is often employed using sarcasm and ridicule in political cartoons and writing. When confronted with this technique the Institute for Propaganda Analysis suggests we ask ourselves the following questions: What does the name mean? Is there a real connection between the idea and the name being used? What are the merits of the idea if I leave the name out of consideration? When examining this technique try to separate your feelings about the name and the actual idea or proposal (Propaganda Critic: Common Techniques 1).

Read more:

http://mason.gmu.edu/~amcdonal/Propaganda%20Techniques.html

Why think about propaganda?

…Propagandists love short-cuts -- particularly those which short-circuit rational thought. They encourage this by agitating emotions, by exploiting insecurities, by capitalizing on the ambiguity of language, and by bending the rules of logic. As history shows, they can be quite successful.

Propaganda analysis exposes the tricks that propagandists use and suggests ways of resisting the short-cuts that they promote. This web-site discusses various propaganda techniques, provides contemporary examples of their use, and proposes strategies of mental self-defense…

Read more:

http://www.propagandacritic.com/articles/intro.why.html

http://www.propagandacritic.com/

Propaganda – Name Calling

"Bad names have played a tremendously powerful role in the history of the world and in our own individual development. They have ruined reputations, stirred men and women to outstanding accomplishments, sent others to prison cells, and made men mad enough to enter battle and slaughter their fellowmen. They have been and are applied to other people, groups, gangs, tribes, colleges, political parties, neighborhoods, states, sections of the country, nations, and races." (Institute for Propaganda Analysis, 1938)

The name-calling technique links a person, or idea, to a negative symbol. The propagandist who uses this technique hopes that the audience will reject the person or the idea on the basis of the negative symbol, instead of looking at the available evidence…

Read more:

http://www.propagandacritic.com/articles/ct.wg.name.html

http://www.propagandacritic.com/

Groupthink

Groupthink is a psychological terminology used to describe the mode of thinking that persons engage in when concurrence-seeking becomes so dominant in a cohesive ingroup that it tends to override realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action. It refers to a deterioration in mental efficiency, reality testing and moral judgments as a result of group pressures…

Read more:

http://www.stanford.edu/group/scie/Career/Wisdom/groupthink1.htm

http://www.afirstlook.com/docs/groupthink.pdf

Dehumanizing Propaganda

The Presentation of “Self” and “Other” in Nazi Propaganda

DIANE KOHL University of Stirling - Psychology & Society, 2011, Vol. 4 (1), 7 – 26

http://www.psychologyandsociety.ppsis.cam.ac.uk/__assets/__original/2011/04/2Kohl_2011_.pdf

Dehumanization of the Jewish people

Dehumanization is another way to distinguish between ingroups and outgroups (Volkan, 2007). Adorno (1973) points out that dehumanization is often due to the lack of real evidence for the accusations and also a direct consequence of the perceived inferiority of the audience by the speaker. If the audience is perceived not to understand argumentation anyway, then it is better to just use images that appeal to the irrational and emotional…

DISCUSSION

The way Hitler and Goebbels chose to present the Aryans versus the Jewish people provided the Germans with all they needed to have an enhanced ingroup feeling: a degree of homogeneity, a common mental object (Jewish people) and a common way of feeling towards it (McDougall, 1920; Schreiber, 1984). Hitler was presented as a highly competent person. Through giving the “simple” people an apparent view behind the scenes and providing them with knowledge, the Nazi party made people feel less helpless in relation to the economic crisis and uncertain future (Adorno, 1973). The presentation of Hitler was partially created by propaganda and partially by the German people themselves, who projected their belief in the supernatural onto Hitler and the party. Presenting Hitler as a demigod could have been another way to put him above justifications and to make him appear infallible. Religion is also a deeply emotional experience, so this might be another attempt to reduce the audience to a barbaric, instinctive state in which they are very suggestible (Adorno, 1973; Argyle and Beit-Hallahmi, 1975). Presenting Hitler as a demigod had another convenient effect: it explained why he knew things no one else knew, for example the existence of the Jewish world conspiracy (Herf, 2006).

The presentation of other was complementary to the presentation of self apart from small paradoxes used to increase the speaker's credibility. The omnipresence strategy is very likely to end up being a self-fulfilling prophecy, as a label can distort perception, and all input is then perceived as consistent with that label (Kidder and Stewart, 1975). Suddenly everything is seen as proof of the Jewish world conspiracy (Herf, 2006). Dehumanization was used to provide a pseudoscientific reason for the treatment of the Jewish population and to legitimize it (Savage, 2007). Identifying the Jewish people through their alleged actions aroused fear in the German population and justified the treatment they received. Projection seems an unconscious result of trying to “see” into the outgroup's mind. It probably has a similar motivation as omnipresence and dehumanization: by projecting their own plans onto the Jewish people, the Nazi government immediately provided a solution and the justification for their actions…

Read complete paper:

http://www.psychologyandsociety.ppsis.cam.ac.uk/__assets/__original/2011/04/2Kohl_2011_.pdf

Psychology & Society

Department of Social and Developmental Psychology at the University of Cambridge

http://www.psychologyandsociety.ppsis.cam.ac.uk/about/

Anti-gay Disguised Hate Propaganda

At Christmas For Broadest News Media Coverage – by US Catholic Bishops & Benedict XVI – Mirroring Hitler’s Human Atrocities Photo

Read more:

http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2011/12/anti-gay-disguised-hate-propaganda-at.html

Propaganda and Children during the Hitler Years

By Mary Mills

http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/m/mills-mary/mills-00.html

Benedict XVI – born April 16, 1927, Marktl, Bavaria

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XVI

Hitler’s Nazi Propaganda – Targeting German School Children

Read more:

http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/story2.htm

The Poisonous Mushroom: “Just as it is often hard to tell a toadstool from an edible mushroom, so too it is often very hard to recognize the Jew as a swindler and criminal...” Photo

http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/thumb.htm

Benedict XVI – 1986 – “Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is more or less strong tendency ordered to an intrinsic moral evil, and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder.”

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19861001_homosexual-persons_en.html

http://www.fortunatefamilies.com/docs/letstalkabout/LTAHWeek7.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Pastoral_Care_of_Homosexual_Persons

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_and_Roman_Catholic_priests

The Poisonous Mushroom: Without Solving the Jewish Question No Salvation for Mankind:

http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/thumb.htm

Benedict XVI 2008 - saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behavior was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2008/12/22/us-pope-gays-idUKTRE4BL2FE20081222

The Poisonous Mushroom: The Experience of Hans and Else with a Strange Man:

http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/thumb.htm

Vatican’s Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone blames homosexuality - not celibacy - for child abuse sex scandal – April 13, 2010

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-04-13/news/27061643_1_celibacy-homosexuality-abuse

GAY PRIESTS ARE NOT THE CAUSE

John Jay College of Criminal Justice

5-Year Study by American Bishops – Roman Catholic Church Sex Abuse Cases

May 18, 2011

“…the study is likely to be regarded as the most authoritative analysis of the scandal in the Catholic Church in America. The study, initiated in 2006, was conducted by a team of researchers at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City at a cost of $1.8 million… The National Institute of Justice, the research agency of the United States Department of Justice, supplied about $280,000…

The report notes that homosexual men began entering the seminaries “in noticeable numbers” from the late 1970s through the 1980s. By the time this cohort entered the priesthood, in the mid-1980s, the reports of sexual abuse of minors by priests began to drop and then to level off. If anything, the report says, the abuse decreased as more gay priests began serving the church…

Read complete report:

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/r/roman_catholic_church_sex_abuse_cases/index.html

The Poisonous Mushroom: The Experience of Hans and Else with a Strange Man:

http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/thumb.htm

The image of the Jewish monster perpetrating misfortune is presented at the end of each episode in the form of a short poem, which capsulizes the specific immoral act allegedly committed by a Jew, connects all Jews to the Devil, and serves to warn the reader against the ever-present Jewish threat.

http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/m/mills-mary/mills-00.html

Gays created by the Devil says US Catholic Church Policy Advisor – November 6, 2011

http://www.irishcentral.com/story/ent/manhattan_diary/gays-created-by-the-devil-says-us-catholic-church-policy-advisor-133320273.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57318760/bishops-aide-resigns-linked-being-gay-to-devil/

The SILENCE of Good People KILLS Human Beings!

Chicago's Cardinal George - under fire for comparing gay rights movement to Ku Klux Klan – December 22, 2011

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-cardinal-under-fire-for-comparing-gay-rights-movement-to-klan-20111222,0,3319987.story

Hate Propaganda Disguised – Archbishop issues "marriage prayer" for Catholics to recite at mass – December 15, 2011

http://www.startribune.com/local/blogs/135672633.html

USA Catholic BISHOPS - PUBLIC MISTREATMENT of GAY PEOPLE

DIRECT VIOLENCE vs. STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE

STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE - …kills indirectly and slowly …is commonplace and Impersonal… structures of violence …not directly observable …deadly results …delayed and diffuse, …[DIRECT VIOLENCE] physical violence, the morality of an act can be judged and sanctions can be applied…is often scrutinized by drawing on religious dicta, legal codes, and ethical systems. Intentionality is not as obvious in impersonal systems of STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE, and considerations of punishment are seldom applicable… STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE - …is ongoing … occurs whenever societal structures and institutions produce oppression, exploitation, and dominance. These conditions are static, stable, normalized, serve the interests of those who hold power and wealth, and are NOT SELF-CORRECTING…

PEACEMAKING vs. PEACEBUILDING

PEACEBUILDING - …addressing long-term structural inequalities… - emphasizes the promotion of social justice… - often threatens the social order…

PEACE PSYCHOLOGY - Daniel J. Christie

Read complete report:

http://academic.marion.ohio-state.edu/dchristie/Peace%20Psychology%20Book_files/Introduction%20to%20Peace%20Psychology%20(Christie,%20Wagner,%20%26%20Winter).pdf

The cruelties of STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE on CHILDREN are often subtle, unspoken, unrecognized, and even normalized, regarded by many people as natural or “just the way things are.”
Daniel J. Christie - Peace, Conflict, and Violence: Peace Psychology for the 21st Century.

http://academic.marion.ohio-state.edu/dchristie/Peace%20Psychology%20Book_files/Chapter%2010%20-%20Children%20%26%20Structural%20Violence%20%28Schwebel%20%26%20Christie%29.pdf

Bullying

The power of the witness

Bullying happens in front of others. Often kids who witness bullying may laugh or join in, even when they don’t want to. They want to fit in and naturally are afraid of becoming the next victim. But in reality, witnesses are extremely powerful. Most bullies love an audience. And when a witness stands up to a bully or makes it clear that they don’t like what is happening, bullying often stops in a few seconds. Being a hero can make all the difference.

http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/topic/bullying/helping-your-child

http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/people/expert/jaana-juvonen-phd/bio

What Bullies Want

Dr. Debra Pepler, PhD, a York University psychology professor who received $600,000 in federal funding to develop a nationwide program to fight bullying, agrees that schools need comprehensive programs to stop bullying, including addressing children who witness bullying…When a child intervenes to stop the bullying, the bullying stops within 10 seconds 57% of the time, says Dr. Pepler. "There's tremendous potential to engage children in addressing these problems."Dr. Juvonen agrees. She says children need to be taught to help the child being bullied. If schools are the primary place for socialization of future citizens, they shouldn't be places where no one has the courage to stand up for anyone else, she says…

Read complete report:

http://www.bridges4kids.org/articles/2003/12-03/NatPost12-11-03.html

Debra Pepler, PhD

http://www.sickkids.ca/AboutSickKids/Directory/People/P/Debra-Pepler.html

Jaana Juvonen, PhD

http://www.psych.ucla.edu/faculty/faculty_page?id=60&area=4

“This Emotional Life”

PBS DVD

Early attachments to caregivers are the building blocks for a child’s social relationships and emotional well-being.

http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/topic/attachment

Persuasion and Influence

Steve Booth-Butterfield - Healthy Influence website

http://www.as.wvu.edu/~sbb/comm221/primer.htm

Obedience: Yes, sir . . . I Was Only Following Orders!

Why Are People Obedient?

There are two general reasons for obedience. The first one I will call the “shallow” reason, the second one “deep.” These are not the only explanations for obedience, but they are a good beginning for more discussion.

http://www.healthyinfluence.com/wordpress/steves-primer-of-practical-persuasion-3-0/doing/obedience/

Modeling Theory
Monkey See, Monkey Do

http://healthyinfluence.com/wordpress/steves-primer-of-practical-persuasion-3-0/doing/monkey-see-monkey-do-modeling-theory/

Steve Booth-Butterfield - Healthy Influence website

“Finally, remember: All Bad Persuasion Is Sincere.”

http://healthyinfluence.com/wordpress/about/

http://healthyinfluence.com/wordpress/about/cv/

RC hierarchy child sexual abuse “cover-ups” ordered by Benedict XVI to avoid public outrage & criminal charges falsely accused gay priests, WATERGATE? – January 2, 2010

No “Checks and Balances”

A major problem with the hierarchical structure of the Roman Catholic Church is that there are no “checks and balances.” When the necessary “checks and balances” are not in place to protect any organization, it leaves “not making waves” the rule that governs the hierarchy and opens the way to many devastating mistakes harmful to everyone and allows corruption to grow.

The following statements are harsh statements, but unfortunately they are heavily documented. (1) Benedict XVI and his hierarchy failed to protect children from child sexual abuse for decades. (2) They mistreated and intimidated the victims and their families who came to report the child sexual abuse, in order to cover up publicity of any child sexual abuse. (3) They failed to protect children by repeatedly reassigning the child sexual abusers to assignments where children would be present. (4) When the hierarchy’s criminal negligence failing to protect children became public, globally, in 2002 they shifted the blame wrongfully onto gay priests.

(5) By falsely, against known research to the contrary, blaming gay priests they implicated the entire LGBT community and how they are fighting against Marriage Equality. When the scientific facts known for decades about human sexuality have been discounted with no substantiated facts given to explain why, it causes many questions whether Benedict XVI and the hierarchy’s fight against Marriage Equality is more a fight to maintained the cover-up of the hierarchy’s criminal negligence failing to protect children? Benedict XVI and his hierarchy need to clearly offer substantiated reasons why they are against Marriage Equality. This statement needs to be spelled out in great detail and follow Pope John Paul II’s test of truth of not separating science and religion. (6) Benedict XVI and the hierarchy’s continuous public propaganda against homosexuality encourages public intolerance towards LGBTQ&I adults and children. They continue to do this even though this summer 2 major Christian denominations approved LGBT singled and partnered people for all forms of ordained ministries. (7) Benedict XVI and the hierarchy’s continuous promulgation of the Vatican’s unsubstantiated antigay teachings that are harmful to children in their early childhood psychological developmental years, harm that is crippling throughout their lives. They have continued this even after the beginning of the year, 2009, the Family Acceptance Project research studies had shown the negative effects caused to youths, when their sexual orientation is not accepted, having health problems, suicidal ideation, etc. They ignore all the major medical, psychiatric, psychological and social workers national and international professional associations regarding their findings regarding human sexuality and sexual orientation. WHEN DO WE START PROTECTING CHILDREN?!?!

Written by Fr. Marty Kurylowicz

http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2010/01/rc-hierarchy-child-sexual-abuse-cover.html

We human beings have a remarkable ability to DEHUMANIZE one another: to conceive of one another as SUBHUMAN creatures, and to treat them accordingly… In dehumanizing others, we EXCLUDE them from the circle of MORAL OBLIGATION. - David Livingstone Smith – December 2, 2011

Read more:

http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2012/01/we-human-beings-have-remarkable-ability.html

Gay Marriage - Catholicism and Homosexuality - CONSCIENCE - DignityUSA – Contrary to massive evidence – In 2003 – under Benedict XVI the Catholic bishops waged an all-out campaign against any civil recognition of lesbian or gay relationships - The SILENCE of Good People KILLS Human Beings!

Read more:

http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2012/01/gay-marriage-catholicism-and_05.html

We human beings have a remarkable ability to DEHUMANIZE one another: to conceive of one another as SUBHUMAN creatures, and to treat them accordingly… In dehumanizing others, we EXCLUDE them from the circle of MORAL OBLIGATION. - David Livingstone Smith – December 2, 2011

2012-01-09T20:38:00.000-05:00

Psychology of Violence - David Livingstone Smith

Forbes – June 15, 2020

We have seen even ordinary people committing horrific violence by thinking of victims as less than human. We can't ignore dehumanization any more.

…We dehumanize our fellow human beings when we convince ourselves (or allow ourselves to be convinced) that they are less than human and come to believe that, although these people appear to be human beings like us, this is merely a façade. Beneath the surface they are really subhuman creatures, fit to be hunted down and destroyed. The immense destructive power of dehumanization lies in the fact that it excludes its victims from the universe of moral obligation, so killing them is of no greater consequence swatting a mosquito, or poisoning a rat. If dehumanization is a key factor in war and genocide, we ought to be working very hard to prevent it.

Read more:

http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/15/forbes-india-david-livingstone-smith-psychology-of-violence-opinions-ideas-10-smith.html

'Less Than Human' - by David Livingstone Smith

Excerpt:

Before I get to work explaining how dehumanization works, I want to make a preliminary case for its importance. So, to get the ball rolling, I'll briefly discuss the role that dehumanization played in what is rightfully considered the single most destructive event in human history: the Second World War. More than seventy million people died in the war, most of them civilians. Millions died in combat. Many were burned alive by incendiary bombs and, in the end, nuclear weapons. Millions more were victims of systematic genocide. Dehumanization made much of this carnage possible…

What is it that enables one group of human beings to treat another group as though they were subhuman creatures?

…A rough answer isn't hard to come by. Thinking sets the agenda for action, and thinking of humans as less than human paves the way for atrocity. The Nazis were explicit about the status of their victims. They were Untermenschen — subhumans — and as such were excluded from the system of moral rights and obligations that bind humankind together. It's wrong to kill a person, but permissible to exterminate a rat. To the Nazis, all the Jews, Gypsies and others were rats: dangerous, disease-carrying rats…

Dehumanizing the enemy allowed German soldiers and officers to agree with the Nazis' new vision of warfare, and to fight without granting the Soviets any mercy or quarter."

…The Holocaust is the most thoroughly documented example of the ravages of dehumanization. Its hideousness strains the limits of imagination. And yet, focusing on it can be strangely comforting. It's all too easy to imagine that the Third Reich was a bizarre aberration, a kind of mass insanity instigated by a small group of deranged ideologues who conspired to seize political power and bend a nation to their will. Alternatively, it's tempting to imagine that the Germans were (or are) a uniquely cruel and bloodthirsty people. But these diagnoses are dangerously wrong. What's most disturbing about the Nazi phenomenon is not that the Nazis were madmen or monsters. It's that they were ordinary human beings…

NPR book review:

'Less Than Human': The Psychology Of Cruelty

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/29/134956180/criminals-see-their-victims-as-less-than-human

David Livingstone Smith

University of New England

Department of Philosophy

My research is focused on the biological roots of human nature, particularly with respect to deception, self-deception, war and dehumanization.

Read more:

http://newengland.academia.edu/DavidLivingstoneSmith

Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave, and Exterminate Others – by David Livingstone Smith, (St. Martin’s Press, March 2011)

Book reviews:

http://www.une.edu/news/2011/lessthanhuman.cfm

Dehumanization, Genocide, and the Psychology of Indifference

Understanding the psychology of dehumanization.

by David Livingstone Smith – Psychology Today – December 2, 2011

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/philosophy-dispatches/201112/dehumanization-genocide-and-the-psychology-indifference-0

The Lucifer Effect - by Philip Zimbardo

http://www.lucifereffect.com/dehumanization.htm

D e h u m a n i z a t i o n

Educational Propaganda

At the core of evil is the process of dehumanization by which certain other people or collectives of them, are depicted as less than human, as non comparable in humanity or personal dignity to those who do the labeling. Prejudice employs negative stereotypes in images or verbally abusive terms to demean and degrade the objects of its narrow view of superiority over these allegedly inferior persons. Discrimination involves the actions taken against those others based on the beliefs and emotions generated by prejudiced perspectives…

Nazi Comic Books

Hitler’s “final solution” of genocide of all European Jews began by shaping the beliefs of school children through the reading of assigned texts in which Jews are portrayed in a series of increasingly negative scenarios. At the end of these lessons in civics or geography, we see the “reasonable” discriminatory actions that Germans should take toward Jews.

This educational propaganda was intentionally designed to create a dehumanized conception of Jews among students by means of providing them with required texts that were colorful and visually told provocative narratives. Students from primary school through High School read these books…

Faces of The Enemy

What does it take for the citizens of one society to hate the citizens of another society to the degree that they want to segregate them, torment them, even to kill them? It requires a ‘hostile imagination,’ a psychological construction embedded deeply in their minds by propaganda that transforms those others into “The Enemy.” That image is a soldier’s most powerful motive, one that loads his rifle with ammunition of hate and fear. That image of a dreaded enemy threatening one’s personal well-being and the society’s national security emboldens mothers and fathers to send sons to war, and empowers governments to rearrange priorities to turn ploughshares into swords of destruction.

Read complete overview & more:

The Lucifer Effect - by Philip Zimbardo 2008

http://www.lucifereffect.com/dehumanization.htm

Philip G. Zimbardo

Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Stanford University

http://www.zimbardo.com/

Stanford Prison Experiment - Philip Zimbardo

http://www.prisonexp.org/

USA Catholic BISHOPS - PUBLIC MISTREATMENT of GAY PEOPLE

DIRECT VIOLENCE vs. STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE

PEACEMAKING vs. PEACEBUILDING

PEACEBUILDING - …addressing long-term structural inequalities… - emphasizes the promotion of social justice… - often threatens the social order…

PEACE PSYCHOLOGY - Daniel J. Christie

Read complete report:

http://academic.marion.ohio-state.edu/dchristie/Peace%20Psychology%20Book_files/Introduction%20to%20Peace%20Psychology%20(Christie,%20Wagner,%20%26%20Winter).pdf

http://academic.marion.ohio-state.edu/dchristie/Peace%20Psychology%20Book_files/Chapter%2010%20-%20Children%20%26%20Structural%20Violence%20%28Schwebel%20%26%20Christie%29.pdf

Anti-gay Disguised Hate Propaganda

At Christmas For Broadest News Media Coverage – by US Catholic Bishops & Benedict XVI – Mirroring Hitler’s Human Atrocities Photo

Read more:

http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2011/12/anti-gay-disguised-hate-propaganda-at.html

Propaganda and Children during the Hitler Years - by
Mary Mills

http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/m/mills-mary/mills-00.html

Benedict XVI – born April 16, 1927, Marktl, Bavaria

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XVI

Hitler’s Nazi Propaganda – Targeting German School Children

Read more:

http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/story2.htm

The Poisonous Mushroom: “Just as it is often hard to tell a toadstool from an edible mushroom, so too it is often very hard to recognize the Jew as a swindler and criminal...” Photo

http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/thumb.htm

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19861001_homosexual-persons_en.html

http://www.fortunatefamilies.com/docs/letstalkabout/LTAHWeek7.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Pastoral_Care_of_Homosexual_Persons

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_and_Roman_Catholic_priests

The Poisonous Mushroom: Without Solving the Jewish Question No Salvation for Mankind:

http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/thumb.htm

Benedict XVI 2008 - saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behavior was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.

The Poisonous Mushroom: The Experience of Hans and Else with a Strange Man:

http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/thumb.htm

Vatican’s Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone blames homosexuality - not celibacy - for child abuse sex scandal – April 13, 2010

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-04-13/news/27061643_1_celibacy-homosexuality-abuse

GAY PRIESTS ARE NOT THE CAUSE

John Jay College of Criminal Justice

5-Year Study by American Bishops – Roman Catholic Church Sex Abuse Cases

May 18, 2011

Read complete report:

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/r/roman_catholic_church_sex_abuse_cases/index.html

The Poisonous Mushroom: The Experience of Hans and Else with a Strange Man:

http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/thumb.htm

http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/m/mills-mary/mills-00.html

Gays created by the Devil says US Catholic Church Policy Advisor – November 6, 2011

http://www.irishcentral.com/story/ent/manhattan_diary/gays-created-by-the-devil-says-us-catholic-church-policy-advisor-133320273.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57318760/bishops-aide-resigns-linked-being-gay-to-devil/

The SILENCE of Good People KILLS Human Beings!

Chicago's Cardinal George - under fire for comparing gay rights movement to Ku Klux Klan – December 22, 2011

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-cardinal-under-fire-for-comparing-gay-rights-movement-to-klan-20111222,0,3319987.story

“KU KLUX KLAN” - Hate Propaganda Disguised – by Minnesota Anti-gay - Nienstedt - Archbishop Issues "marriage prayer" for Catholics to recite at mass – December 15, 2011

http://www.startribune.com/local/blogs/135672633.html Photo

*** IS HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF? ***

AUSCHWITZ -- CHRISTMAS 2008

A flashback far more severe than in --- BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

December 26, 2008 – Fr. Marty Kurylowicz

…I have been so saddened by Pope Benedict XVI's cruel words to LGBTQ people around the world, to their parents, families and friends, most ESPECIALLY TO CHILDREN… Photo

…I am a priest and a clinical psychologist… And for one of my research projects I chose to do a qualitative research project of the recorded verbal accounts of survivors of the Holocaust, 50 years after the event…

…And when I heard what Pope Benedict XVI said about homosexuals and transgendered human beings at Christmas 2008, I felt that same trauma all over again. Because in some way, somehow, he was conveying …the horror of the Holocaust, in what appears to be a traumatized, trance-like, accepted social norm from that period of time dictating that some people just don’t count, aren’t important, and can be easily disposed of. And if you rock the boat, you could be next to be disposed of. Photo

…The horror of the Holocaust is like an atomic bomb with fallout so extensive that it spreads over a radius of more than 150 miles. The horror of the Holocaust began in 1933 and ended in 1945. The psychological fallout would have been far more extensive and more deadly, especially when it is not identified as such…

Read complete letter:

http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2008/12/auschwitz-christmas-2008-flashback.html

Related links:

http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2008/12/perpetuation-of-generational-violence.html

Chronicle of the Third Reich - Michael Kloft – 2010

The past is still with us and will not go away. (Helmut Schmidt) …The Third Reich lasted for 12 years, 3 months and 9 days. It began with great hopes and unprecedented jubilation and ended after a world war in which 50 million people were killed, Germany was destroyed and the European Jews murdered. To mark the 75th anniversary of the seizure of power by the Nazis, SPIEGEL embarks on a unique journey through the bleakest chapter of German history…

Part II – Carnival 1938 in Nuremberg – The amateur footage documents the Shrovetide Revelry in the Third Reich. One of the floats is decorated with the anti-Semitic caricature of a Jew hanging from the gallows as if it were the most natural thing in the world...

Read more:

http://www.spiegeltvdistribution.com/SPTVDistribution/home.nsf/RefProgrammeKat/DDF6D64F14602FD4C12576DC00418539

What you cannot do is accept injustice.

From Hitler – or anyone.

You must make the injustice visible

– be prepared to die like a

soldier to do so.

Mahatma Gandhi

Kids Are Being Hurt!!!

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