The Lair of the Catholic Caveman

The Car Crash of Blogs. You Don't Want To, But You Just Can't Help But Look

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

My Thoughts On Gandhi
Yeah... pretty much what you might have expected

I have a tough time taking any theological direction from someone who worshipped cows, ate dirt and drank his own piss.

9 Comments:

Dad29 said...: ....on the other hand, those are some interesting Lenten penances!; 2:35 PM
VSO said...: ditto; 2:37 PM
QuantaCura01 said...: "drank his own piss"...Whenever they day is not going so well I surf into the cave and find jewels like this that make me smile the rest of the day.; 3:56 PM
TH2 said...: British historian Paul Johnson on Gandhi:

"[a] political exotic, who could have flourished only in the protected environment provided by British liberalism... About the Gandhi phenomenon there was always a strong aroma of twentieth-century humbug.... [his] teachings had no relevance to India’s problems or aspirations.”

TH2 classification: Manichean pacifist.

P.S. Also got his assistants to sniff his feces, for some bizarre "health" reason.; 4:30 PM
Sybok said...: I'm pretty (not certain) sure he used to sleep nude with little girls to test his chastity; 6:34 PM
Adeodatus49 said...: [a] political exotic, who could have flourished only in the protected environment provided by British liberalism...

Indeed! Gandhi acknowledged the essential justice of British Law. His objection (prior his independence from Britain gig) was that the British did not apply the law to the King's subjects equitably.

Gandhi was also a Queen's Counselor, I believe, a particular honor for a British barrister. He made his name first by opposing in South Africa what eventually came to be known officially as apartheid.

They were his nieces, by the way. As perverted as this could potentially have become (he never molested them), the worse part of this story was that he ignored his wife('s needs) and volunteered her without her "volunteering" for a life of celibacy. He was also estranged from his sons.

We Catholics also have our own sins in this regard. During the Medieval Age and perhaps even earlier, there were cases of married men who decided to give it all up to enter the monastic life. The wife's permission was never sought. Bishops let these men do this; they even blessed it. Of course the wife was left with involuntary celibacy, in many cases having to enter religion herself if only to survive (food, board, and clothing). IMHO this was a clerically-approved abuse of the Marriage Covenant.

Of course I do not refer to the practice of the age before Pope Gregory VII made priestly celibacy mandatory as opposed to a mere traditional practice when married Roman Rite men were ordained priests and they and their wives mutually agreed to live together as brothers and sisters from then on. This is not wholly unknown in modern times among Eastern Catholics and the Orthodox, St. John of Kronstadt and his wife being a prime example of this.; 8:19 PM
Greta said...: Kind of ranks up there with sodomy with a child and covering it up as a bishop. I would have had more respect for a priest who drank his own urine, but suspect we would have also found out he was still molesting boys as well.
I understand there is still a large cult in India who are into drinking their own and cow urine for a variety of reasons.; 11:18 PM
Dymphna said...: Ghandi let his wife die of an easily treatable illness becuase he would not allow her to have English medicine. He did go to the doctor himslef. He was obsessed with his daily enemas. He slept naked with young girls in order to perfect his chastity. He would not allow his sons to have an education (modern English thinking) and forbade his sons to marry and disowned the son who married anyway. And yeah, there was the whole pee drinking thing. He was a nutter.; 9:58 AM
Adeodatus49 said...: Re: the real Gandhi vs. the Movie Gandhi

This is a long article, but a worthy read!

http://history.eserver.org/ghandi-nobody-knows.txt; 3:09 PM