Catholic militant John Waters went a bit mad on Newstalk’s Sunday Show recently (12th Feb. 2nd part) during a discussion on the closure of the Irish embassy to the Vatican.
He returned to the issue in the Irish Times (17th Feb.) and was obviously still very angry at the evil conspiracy to do down his beloved Catholic Church.
The closure was, according to Waters:
An opportunistic act of neurotic bigotry by militant atheists seeking to impose their myopic beliefs on the rest of us.
Throwing in the usual stuff about an implacable media hostility towards the Catholic Church he tells us that the closure of the embassy is all part of a slithery agenda by the Labour Party.
This mad rant, of course, is par for the course for Waters as he continues his ever-quickening descent into the dark pit of religious fundamentalism.
The immediate (editorial) response from the editor of the Irish Times (Sat. 18th) was, however, surprising and, in my opinion, very welcome.
Here’s some of what he had to say:
Commentators have complained of a media culture that excludes or marginalises religious ideas, and even of the closure of the Vatican embassy as the product of a “militant atheist” Labour agenda.
The overblown rhetoric is almost comical, if not an insult to those who labour under real tyranny.
But is there a germ of truth? Are we really living in an age of liberal intolerance?
Hardly. In truth the reality of declining influence and deference – even within their own faith communities – is difficult to adjust to and accept.
Denial starts with blame. Shoot the messenger, the infernal media!
But amid the recriminations, compelling evidence of systematic media disparaging of religion has not been forthcoming.
I couldn’t agree more and I wonder if Waters is becoming an embarrassment to the Irish Times.
I wonder if the the editor is, perhaps, hinting that it’s time for him to move on.
John Waters had a spat with Geraldine Kennedy during her time as editor of the IT and was “persona non grata” for a while but the new editor may have firmer ideas. As a self confessed “luddite” he is living in an Ireland long gone. I guess his spell with Sinéad didn’t do him any good either!
For many of us living in so called ” modern/liberal ” Ireland is a very depressing experience. There is little or no diversity of views in relation to the really important issues of life. If you don’t conform to the standardised liberal/feminist/fundamentalist dogma’s then you will have great difficulty having a say. I refer to it as the intellectual infantilisation of society. Thankfully there are a few commentaors, such as John Waters & David Quinn, who dont conform to the brain dead consensus. Without them, I think many of us would just emigrate & leave the fundamentalists to it.