Screw watergate. We have crackergate.
Stephen harper has been rather inappropriately flambasted by the catholic community for supposedly either consuming or not consuming the body of Jesus Christ, A.K.A. a tasteless cracker, while attending a funeral for former governor general Romeo LeBlanc. The initial report was that Harper took the wafer, and promptly pocketted it–something that would almost appear to be backed up by a video posted to YouTube. He was criticised for doing that by the catholic community when the initial report came out. A spokesman for the prime minister later countered that by saying he did, in fact, consume the thing–which drew even more criticism from the catholic community for doing that. According to the article, since only a catholic was supposed to accept the body of Jesus Christ, and Stephen Harper is most definitely not catholic–one would think that message would have been passed to the church at which the funeral was being held, the appropriate reaction from Harper would have been to cross his arms and “be blessed” instead. Which would have probably also drawn criticism from the catholic community–as it stands now, a New Brunswick church is demanding he appologise for either eating or not eating the thing anyway.
Now, I may not be Harper’s biggest fan, but can we at least try to not get our panties in a knot here, folks? Yes, I understand that to a devoted catholic, it’s the body of Christ. But to everyone else, it’s just a cracker–and not a very good one at that. And if he wasn’t supposed to have been given it, the priest should have probably–oh, I don’t know–not given it to him. But there I go doing something you don’t necessarily see in religion, oh… say… at all–making sense. Maybe Stephen Harper should invite PZ Myers along on his next funeral participation? He’s offered his services, and who knows, maybe it’ll make things a little bit easier. Unless the religious community will criticise that, too.
Update: Not guilty by reason of religious stupidity. How many of us called it? Or care?
