Agylen

I don't usually write, or even care much, about religion, but the events of these days, and one particular blog post, prompted me to say something. Be warned, I have two or three gripes here, so this might raise a bit of controversy, but as Dave writes: “Too much footsie in the blogosphere. Enough. […] Make some new enemies for a change.”

First gripe: About the Pope's death. I felt quite sad for his illness. He was a great man, one of the most important men of the last century and he dedicated all his life to what he believed in. I didn't feel particularly sad for his death, rather relieved that his suffering was over.

Anyway, whatever my feelings are, all of Italy's institutions and media think that I should mourn. For three days, no less! So we have no movies on the TV, apart from whatever they can find about the Gospels or the life of some saint. No sports at all: No football matches and no showing of the F1 Grand Prix, which was held in Bahrain, a muslim country, otherwise they could have probably stopped that also. No news but endless showing of people in St.Peter's Square.

Notice that they didn't do this for 9/11. Three thousand innocent people die a horrible death, but the show must go on. One old man dies in his bed and everything stops. That's hypocrisy!

Well, if you're a member of that religious sect that is called “The Catholic Church”, you can mourn all you want. I'm not forcing you to watch my Sunday football match, so please do not force me to mourn your ex-chief. I have no desire to, thanks.
Besides football matches, which don't matter much, all of this reminds me that the purported separation of state and church is but a fairy tale, at least in this country.

Since this entry is already quite long, I will post my other two gripes later. Stay tuned, if you wish.