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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 5, 2025

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Congratulations United States, you are Pope!

Edit: Sorry if that is too short but I am currently watching the livestream from Europe and am totally baffled.

Joel Berry, the managing editor of the Babylon Bee, wants you to know that "America has always been a protestant nation, and it must stay that way."

https://x.com/JoelWBerry/status/1920537379170877885

(Back in reality, America is down to 39% Protestant, not counting Mormons as Protestant: https://www.pewresearch.org/religious-landscape-study/)

He also "jokes" that "We know the world is healing when Catholics and Protestants are fighting again." Ah, let's go back to the good old days when 1/3rd of the German population were killed in a horrific religiously-motivated war.

https://x.com/JoelWBerry/status/1920658687347089517

Berry isn't a marginal figure, certainly more influential at this point than, say, Jonah Goldberg.

Maybe conservative Catholics should start asking themselves whether "separation of church and state" might be a good idea after all. But I can't get my hopes up - even many "based" seculars would rather die in the mud than admit that the "libs" might have been right about something.

  • -16

This is level of feigned obliviousness I haven't seen since the last time Snopes beclowned itself.

You do know this guy is editor of a satirical magazine/website? That makes jokes and pokes fun in the religious context?

If I'm gonna have steam pouring out my ears about a humour site dissing the Church, there's bigger targets I'd go after right this minute.

If I'm gonna have steam pouring out my ears about a humour site dissing the Church, there's bigger targets I'd go after right this minute.

Given Parolin's pre-conclave behavior, that doesn't really seem very beyond the pale.

Guy might well have been ambitious, and I'm more "this is dumb" than truly outraged, but comparing "guy only pretended to be devout in order to get top job, now is pissed he was passed over and thinks he might as well have been a sinner because he never genuinely believed at all in the first place" to "guy makes joke that is obviously meant to be a joke about the Wars of Religion", is not comparing similar levels.

I took the opposite interpretation of that Onion article. It's obviously absurd that he would make all those efforts if his true goal were the papacy itself. Exploring how absurd it looks all spelled out like that is supposed to have the effect of humor.