Offensive, Really?

So it turns out the Catholic League found South Park's season finale offensive.

I can't imagine why.

The entire season was a meta-commentary on magical thinking. Whether it was Scientology, PETA, Global Warming nuts, AA, or the Catholic Church, everyone who make excuses of one sort or another for bad behavior got parodied.

The Catholics are still powerful enough to get the episode pulled from future repeats (I'm sure it will still be on the season DVD though).

This is an important point though

The Catholic League also sought a personal condemnation from Viacom board member Joseph A. Califano Jr., who the group noted is a "practicing Catholic."

Califano was only too happy to oblige. After viewing the episode, he released a statement calling the episode an "appalling and disgusting portrayal of the Virgin Mary."

The idea that a satiric representation of pilgrims veneration of a cheap plaster (presumably) statue of the Virgin Mary is somehow equivalent to an attack on the Virgin Mary herself is problematic. It's this sort of idolatry which has been off putting about the Roman Catholic church for, ooohh about a millennia or so.

A statue is not a saint, it should not be venerated, whether it bleeds, cries, pees, or defecates it's always a statue and a representation of the form of a saint and not the saint itself. The image of whatever in whatever (like the Mother Teresa bun recently stolen) is another phenomena that seems Catholics are especially susceptible to. That's one of the things Mohammed got right. Churches shouldn't be full of graven images for people to worship. If you are inclined to worship, worship the ideas and morals and spirituality of your faith, not its icons.

My suggestions anyway, take it for what you will, I'm hoping the Catholic League will prohibit it's members from visiting this site, I could use the traffic bump that would cause.