By PHEN
Added: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 19:46:15 UTC

My mother recently began delivering copies of a free Catholic newspaper around the area, as requested by a local priest. Me being the token atheist of the family, they kept urging me to read it and "learn a thing or two" (the irony of that quote is not lost on me, by the way!).

Out of curiosity, I flicked through some editions that were lying around the house. Each time I read it, it seems full of a curious mix of anger and hysterics. On the one hand, it reads like a deeply satirical piece, but the reality is that this is deeply fundamentalist, dangerous propaganda.

One thing that struck me immediately was how the author takes absolutely anything, and twists it to appear as an attack on their faith. This kind of 'paper' just feeds the homophobia, atheistophobia and cynicism of anything non-catholic that still prevails in too many people in our society. As I say in the title, it is a good insight into the warped view of reality these people perceive. Why do people agree with, and fund, such patronising nonsense? And more importantly, how do we combat it?

TAGGED: RELIGION, SOCIETY