That Dang Pope!

Sorry for the long delay in writing, I’ve just been very busy with work.  I couldn’t find time in my day to write anything for the blog.  Though there were a number of things on my mind like the government shutdown, the future of conservatism, and what we should aim for as conservatives in a liberal society, I just couldn’t find the hours in a day to write about any of them.  Now that the shutdown is over, I actually wanted to address another issue completely different than those I just mentioned – the Pope.

See, right now the Pope is highly controversial among Catholics and has caused quite a stir.  Some conservatives want his head while many liberals are cheering him as if he fighting for their cause.  Now, as a non-Catholic I have found that I tend to come in with a slightly different view of him.  Pope Francis has been in the media quite a bit and many of his statements seem to have been flaunted as a change in Catholic teaching.  However, what the liberals would like the Pope to say and what the Pope is actually saying are two different things.  Francis has sparked a lot of debate and I hear many conservatives bashing him as completely stupid for even talking.  So let me breakdown my perspective a little.

First though, let’s address the media.  As most people with half a brain know, the media is completely sold out to liberalism.  The news is just a propaganda machine trying to bend everything in a way that promotes liberalism.  Liberals are absolute idiots, they’re never going to embrace logic yet try to argue with logic until they get destroyed and then they argue emotions.  As far as liberals are concerned, debates are over: evolution, global warming, gay marriage, and even religion.  They are over because the liberals are so smart they don’t even argue, don’t follow science, logic, reason, or intelligent process and instead just say the arguments are over.  This approach is surprisingly effective because the news (along with essentially every TV show, except Last Man Standing, is liberal) promotes the idea that the argument is over and just doesn’t ever talk about the other view, ever.  So whenever there is a story about the Pope on the news we need to understand as non-Obamaholics that each story comes in the context of EXPANDING THE LIBERAL AGENDA.  Meaning, most likely the news will use words to skew the story, take out of context the quotes, and have some sort of bash on conservative values – very slyly over course.  If you’re a conservative and mad at the Pope because of something you heard on the news, you’re misinformed. 

However, some conservatives are well aware of the worthless news and have decided the Pope is an idiot because he even talks and should be aware that the liberal media will decimate whatever he says.  I find this a bit disturbing because it gives MORE power to the media! Should the Pope really be holding his tongue because the liberals will try to change it to fit their agenda?  Set the Pope aside for a second and ask yourself if all conservatives should be quiet in order to not give the liberal media something to talk about.  Living in fear of being taking out of context gives all the power to the liberals and we as conservatives have done their job for them.  Conservatives should be celebrating that at least the Pope is still a news story!  Make no mistake; liberals can’t wait till there are no conservatives to talk about and bad mouth.  Remember, the only compromise a liberal knows is where the other party talks, looks, eats, acts, thinks, and votes the same as them.  The Pope is a story because HE IS NOT one of them and the liberals want to make him like them. 

The second thing to take into consideration is that the Pope has successfully brought the debate forward.  Gay marriage and women’s roles have actually been talked about again and people have had the opportunity to EXPLAIN the conservative view.  For a long time the conservative view has been described by everybody else EXCEPT the conservatives.  Liberals have defined what we believe and others have accepted.  “The church hates homosexuals.” “Christians believe just being gay is a sin.” “Christians think they’re so much better than everybody else.”   When the liberals define the conservative view, then the real conservative view can never win.  All the attention the Pope has drawn has given an opportunity for conservatives to actually talk about what the REAL conservative view is.  Conversation has actually surfaced and the time for educating the liberals and other “conservatives” has started because of the Pope.  Mention “Christian” or “Catholic” and you automatically have images flood into people’s minds – many images that have been defined and establish by the LIBERALS and are therefore completely distorted.  We can win every debate against liberalism because conservatism is simply a better, rational, logical, and intelligent view of the world but many conservatives have succumb to the liberal view and have accepted the liberal media’s position that the debate is over.  Because of the focus on the Pope we have been given the opportunity to educate the world, liberals and conservatives alike, on the real beliefs of conservative Christians.  THIS IS A GOOD THING!

A third thing to realize is that the Pope has attempted to be more Christ like and less Pharisee like VISUALLY.  It’s not to say other Popes where Pharisaical, but rather that Pope Francis is specifically trying to change the IMAGE that is perceived when viewing the Pope .  Many of the conservatives remind me of the Pharisees who had their own understanding of how things should be and were unwilling to see any differently.  They held so tightly to THEIR PERSONAL beliefs that many missed the very thing they were looking for.  Often times these conservatives get so focused on their way that they believe they personally know better than everybody else.  By making many of the drastic or more subtle changes, the Pope has moved into a ministry that is much more Christ like than acting loftier and higher than everybody else.  Focusing on the poor, emphasizing love, and walking among the crowds is very much a shift in style and a great attempt at changing the PERCEPTION that exists among people.  How effective it will be in the long run remains to be seen, but the contrast is clear when compared to some previous Popes, especially those in recent memory of the people.  He has to find a way to be on the level with people because stories of the smuggling millions of dollars in or spending millions on lavish living continue to pop up.  How do we educate people and change the perception WITHOUT doing something different? I think people need to really appreciate what the Pope is trying to do, whether or not it is successfully achieved.  People expect the Pope to be in a palace.  People expect extravagance.  People expect the Pope to not talk about anything controversial.  However, what has this done for the message of Christianity and what has this done to establish the Christian attitude of serving people?  Something NEEDED TO CHANGE!  We don’t want to sacrifice CONSERVATIVE VALUES, but we need to find a way to express CHRISTIAN VALUES that effectively represents the message of Christ while at the same time shatters some of the views that the liberals have so effectively instilled in the minds of the people.

I’m not here to defend the Pope in everything he does or says.  My main point is that all this attention is good and it gives conservatives a real opportunity to educate people.  Liberalism is the enemy of reason and logic, but most of all it is the enemy of conservative Christian values.  We need to take advantage of this time to use these conversations to spread the real conservative message and dispel the liberal implanted ideas.