Christopher Buckley Mocks Church

Christopher Buckley, the Obama loving publicity seeking son of the great William F. Buckley, writes a 500 word snicker about Newt Gingrich becoming a Catholic, the Catholic Church, and conversion in general in his piece "The Audacity of Poping" for The Daily Beast.

From the term "poping" to accusing the Church of thinking "like a $700-an-hour K Street lawyer," the piece only succeeds in being offensive and sad.

Some lowlights of Buckley's childish rant follow:

BTW: “Poping” in the headline above, which—sorry—I couldn’t resist, is the traditional, British pejorative for “becoming a Catholic.” Did you hear the news? Bertie just Poped! There will be an undercurrent of anti-Catholic bias in the commentary about Mr. Gingrich’s embrace of Rome. As the saying goes, anti-Catholicism is the anti-Semitism of the intellectual class.

Firstly, among much of the "intellectual class" anti-semitism is the anti-semitism of the intellectual class. Anti-Catholicism is just as popular but in no way does it replace anti-semitism.

Buckley admits that the term "poping" is a pejorative but then uses it anyway. Classy. And by using it is he saying he's a member of the intellectual class? I always wonder about people who have to tell you they're members of the intellectual class. If Christopher Buckley is a member of the intellectual class his membership is certainly because of his "legacy" status.

As for Mother Church, she’ll come in for drubbing this weekend for seeming two-faced about the sanctity of marriage. As you know, divorce is still not allowed in the Catholic Church. But here insert a large “however”—she is liberal in the granting of annulments.

You see how he shifts blame by saying the Church will come in for a drubbing while he himself is the one doing it. That's what children do.

Mother Church can be rigid, but at times—bless her—she can think like a $700-an-hour K Street lawyer.

Name calling?

The stated reason for it is that he wishes to worship alongside his wife, who is described on her husband’s Web site as “a devoted Catholic.” To the extent her devotedness is assessed alongside her early relationship with the then-married Mr. Gingrich, it should be borne in mind that to be “devoted” is not the same as being “perfect.”

Then why bring it up? We are all sinners. This is just gossip. This is essentially the old, "She says she's Catholic but she's not perfect and therefore all religion is a lie and I don't have to feel guilty anymore for doing anything I want to do." Because those with standards will eventually fall short of them, allowing others to call out "hypocrisy" as those without standards often can and will do.