Religion & Law

I thought that this essay, by Jody Bottum, captured well another sense in which "the Catholic Church" and "scandal" are connected:

The day the Antichrist is ripped from his papal throne, true religion will guide the world. Or perhaps it?s the day the last priest is gutted, and his entrails used to strangle the last king, as Voltaire demanded. Yes, that?s when we will see at last the reign of bright, clean, enlightened reason?the release of mankind from the shadows of medieval superstition. War will end. The proletariat will awaken from its opiate dream. The oppression of women will stop. And science at last will be free from the shackles of Rome. 

For almost 500 years now, Catholicism has been an available answer, a mystical key, to that deep, childish, and existentially compelling question: Why aren?t we there yet? Why is progress still unfinished? Why is promise still unfulfilled? Why aren?t we perfect? Why aren?t we changed? 

Despite our rejection of the past, the future still hasn?t arrived. Despite our advances, corruption continues. It needs an explanation. It requires a response. And in every modernizing movement?from Protestant Reformers to French Revolutionaries, Communists to Freudians, Temperance Leaguers and suffragettes to biotechnologists and science-fiction futurists?someone in despair eventually stumbles on the answer: We have been thwarted by the Catholic Church. . . .

 . . . There must be a reason for the unfulfilled promise of modern sex and modern life. There must be a mystical, magical key that will unlock the door to paradise. Why have we been thwarted? Why aren?t we there yet? 

The Catholic Church, of course. That?s the answer.

I'm reminded of the scene, in the film "Gladiator", when the (usurping) emperor, Commodus, says to Maximus ("father to a murdered son," etc.), "What am I going to do with you? You simply won't... die."  Sounds like Chris Hitchens . . .