Stephen Fry on Catholic obsession with sex

Actor and comedian Stephen Fry makes a perspicacious point about Catholicism's twisted sexual doctrines. I think, however, that his point applies to many sex-obsessed religions, including the Bahá'í Faith and Islam.

This clip comes from Stephen Fry's recent pairing with Christopher Hitchens against Archbishop John Onaiyekan and Ann Widdencombe MP on the motion "Is the Catholic church a force for good in the world?" aired 11-7-09 on BBC World.

The full debate is here:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=F821DBF3CE3374A3

The video from which this was taken is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-q8US0QRs4

Category:

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[tondog54]

Brilliant and spot on. Bravo. I rarely applaud at my computer....today was one of those days :)

[mavaddat]

@Paddy234 I even provided the quotation from the Pope where he called being gay "an intrinsic moral evil." Pope John Paul wrote in his 2005 book, "Memory and Identity," that gay marriage is part of "a new ideology of evil." On July 31 2003, the Vatican urged Catholic politicians to actively campaign against legalising gay marriages which it said were "evil, deviant and posed a grave threat to society." So Paddy, would it be fair to conclude that you are stupid, ignorant, and/or a hypocrite?

[mavaddat]

@philipmarie1854 There are plenty of activities we undertake for no further reason than pleasure (e.g., rollercoasters, skiing, bird watching, etc.).

The Catholic Church only condemns those pleasurable activities relating to (non-reproductive) sexuality because The Catholic Church is obsessed with sex.

Face it: Your religion is a sex-obsessed, pleasure-hating institution that promotes suffering as a means of redemption. Your religion's sadomasochism is leagues beyond the Marquis de Sade's!!

[philipmarie1854]

@mavaddat thoughts so obnoxious you'd blush if you saw them.

Masturbation serves no purpose other than to give empty pleasure to somebody. We're not against pleasur eor anything as we certainly aren't calvinists who condemn enjoying good food, drink, sleep and games but one must be careful not to take them to access. There are people who spend a wekk dancing and partying and yet if they're asked to pray for an hour, they complain at having headaches or cramps.

[philipmarie1854]

@mavaddat We condemn masturbation (setting aside that it may make you blind as thats not the reason we condemn it) because it makes people view sex as nothing but a pleasurable thing and not what it truly is: a symbol of the love a man and a wife have for each other. The same with pornography; it rarely turns anyone into a monster like the Marquis de Sade but it impairs and clouds one's view of people. I used to check porn all the time you know and without sounding crude, i used to think sexual

[philipmarie1854]

@nousernamesleft14 about them.

[philipmarie1854]

@nousernamesleft14 the Nazis or white supremacists, we don't want to force gay people to have sex with the opp. sex to 'cure' their gayness. If you don't feel attracted SEXUALLY to women or to ANYONE at all as asexuals are, theres nothing wrong with that. However, nothing can excuse you form not talking with anyone of a diff. sex and being just friends with them.

We don't condemn gay men for admiring a man's handsome face or lesbians form admiring a woman's poise, just don't fantasize sexually

[philipmarie1854]

@nousernamesleft14 gay people may have. Theres nothing wrong with being gay; hell, I'm may write a story where a gay but devoutly religious superhero beats up some rapists of the same sex who tell him that he's gay and he's supposed to have lots of sex. Punch, and he tells them that he's not a filthy degenerate.

There are camp gays and straight gays. The former don't have to like dolls or put on thick makeup as it shows how pathethic they are. In fact, Fry is straight gay and not camp.

Unlike

[philipmarie1854]

@nousernamesleft14 I don't dislike Fry because he's gay, I just dislike him because he's a jerkass who makes up lies on the Catholic Church, is a hypocrite and says half truths. We don't think gay people are evil; anyone and everybody will tell you that the Church doesn't accept homosexual acts. Just as we condemn heterosexual promiscuity because it is unhealthy to the individuals who do it, to the children and society, so we condemn gay promiscuity becuase it is harmful to the sense of decency

[nousernamesleft14]

@philipmarie1854 In the end, your failure to accept a good and gracious human being just because they are gay is immoral. There's more science to prove that being gay is a natural thing than there is to prove that god exists.

[mavaddat]

@philipmarie1854 You still see a picture of him whenever you come to this video. So clearly you can stand to see a picture of him.

It is true that marketing and advertising abuse our sexual insecurities to make us want to buy things we don't need. This damages to society.

In exactly the same way, the Catholic faith also abuses our sexual insecurities and makes us think we need repentance for totally harmless sexual feelings or actions.

Both institutions are obsessed with sex in an unhealthy way.

[philipmarie1854]

@mavaddat Whatever, you still didn't give me reasons why I am wrong. Besides, I didn't watch the video, I read what he said in the ID on wikipedia and other sites so your empty argument with its empty intent and it's inability to refute other, more important things falls flat.