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@malteengeler I’m an ironclad atheist and antichristian. And today I’m actually mourning Bergoglio.

When Ratzinger first abdicated I was actually disappointed. I considered him the perfect representation of what the Church deserved. An embalmed simulacrum teleported from the Middle Ages who bitched about social rights, equality, women’s self-determination and relativism. I thought that, had the Church continued on such a dull path of expired ideologies, millions would have been alienated and would have left that rotting institution.

It didn’t happen. Ratzinger only emboldened that bigot far-right that is supposed to be our sworn enemy. His retrograde views only legitimated those ultraconservative folks who recycled his doctrine to justify their opposition to gay rights, to abortion, to women’s emancipation, to religious tolerance, to sexual contraception and to racial integration.

I’d love to live in a world where religious institutions don’t have such a heavy grip on people’s thoughts. The problem is that such a world isn’t going to happen any time soon. Even if you take the religious comfort away from some folks, they’ll probably just replace it with conspiracy bullshit (which is this century’s dominant religion), as you’ll leave a hole inside of their system of beliefs that makes them vulnerable to exploitation. At that point it’s better to just give them an imaginary friend and a guy who dresses up like it’s Carnival every day.

If someone can convince people to be good and caring, if someone can take gasoline away from the fascist dumpster fires, if someone is brave enough to back progressive values like equality, fairness and solidarity even when the political wind around him starts to heavily blow to the right, then I’m on that guy’s side. I dont care if he’s a representative of Jesus or a representative of the Flying Pink Unicorn.