“take the veil from their hearts”

Pope Palpatine is praying for you to convert.

(Note: The above article is from the National Post, which is not a paragon of journalistic integrity. So take it with a grain of salt. It does sound like something Benedict would do, though.)

So, I'm generally pretty live-and-let-live when it comes to religion. I'm an atheist, but like my vegetarianism, I try not to be self-righteous about it, as long as religious people don't get self-righteous with me. I can name quite a few religious people, Catholics among them, whom I utterly respect, and whose faith inspires them to do good works, etc.

I have one of two reactions to people saying, "I'll pray for you," because it means one of two things. The first means, "I'm thinking of you, I'm wishing the best for you." That's okay, and I take it in the spirit that it's intended—kindness and sympathy.

The second is perfidious. It says, "I don't give a good goddamn what you believe, because my beliefs are superior. I'm not praying for your life to get better. I'm praying that misfortune befalls you such that, out of desperation, you come around to my way of thinking." The second meaning—and this is what a prayer for conversion is—is an insult, or a threat.

It's not, logically speaking, a threat that I take particularly seriously. I don't believe that Palpatine, or legions of Catholics, actually have the power to convert Jews into Catholics just by wishing for it hard enough.* It's the equivalent of me marching boldly up to them and declaring, "I've got my fingers crossed that you're going to become pro-choice! So there! Are you pro-choice yet?"

And yet I do find it offensive. Perhaps it's cultural memory of persecution. Perhaps it's just flat-out rude. But it gets under my skin in a way that it shouldn't, because it shouldn't be anything more powerful than a bunch of people looking up at a shooting star and wishing for a magical unicorn.

In a related story, I had a nightmare involving Pope Palpatine's floating head last night. I'm not making this up.

* If anything, it has the opposite effect. The only time I feel really Jewish is when I'm confronted with nonsense like this.

“take the veil from their hearts”

Pope Palpatine is praying for you to convert.

(Note: The above article is from the National Post, which is not a paragon of journalistic integrity. So take it with a grain of salt. It does sound like something Benedict would do, though.)

So, I'm generally pretty live-and-let-live when it comes to religion. I'm an atheist, but like my vegetarianism, I try not to be self-righteous about it, as long as religious people don't get self-righteous with me. I can name quite a few religious people, Catholics among them, whom I utterly respect, and whose faith inspires them to do good works, etc.

I have one of two reactions to people saying, "I'll pray for you," because it means one of two things. The first means, "I'm thinking of you, I'm wishing the best for you." That's okay, and I take it in the spirit that it's intended—kindness and sympathy.

The second is perfidious. It says, "I don't give a good goddamn what you believe, because my beliefs are superior. I'm not praying for your life to get better. I'm praying that misfortune befalls you such that, out of desperation, you come around to my way of thinking." The second meaning—and this is what a prayer for conversion is—is an insult, or a threat.

It's not, logically speaking, a threat that I take particularly seriously. I don't believe that Palpatine, or legions of Catholics, actually have the power to convert Jews into Catholics just by wishing for it hard enough.* It's the equivalent of me marching boldly up to them and declaring, "I've got my fingers crossed that you're going to become pro-choice! So there! Are you pro-choice yet?"

And yet I do find it offensive. Perhaps it's cultural memory of persecution. Perhaps it's just flat-out rude. But it gets under my skin in a way that it shouldn't, because it shouldn't be anything more powerful than a bunch of people looking up at a shooting star and wishing for a magical unicorn.

In a related story, I had a nightmare involving Pope Palpatine's floating head last night. I'm not making this up.

* If anything, it has the opposite effect. The only time I feel really Jewish is when I'm confronted with nonsense like this.