Okay, I admit it: I was raised in a small town in rural Indiana, which had three Protestant Church—I belonged to the Methodist brand—and one Catholic Church. We got used to being taunted by the Catholic kids: we were going to hell because we weren’t members of their one true church. But mind you, it was a peaceful community; many true friendships developed despite the religious divides. Of course, on our Protestant side of the divide, we believed in our share of nonsense, but the older I got, the more I came to see that the Vatican is a champion at pushing nonsense.
Here are a few examples of make-believe:
1. Saints
The church’s theologians and clergy have assured its followers that there are thousands of saints, empowered to hear and answer prayers. An objective, outside observer might wonder if this doesn’t dilute monotheism, that is, aren’t all of these saints taking on part of their god’s workload? Are they minor deities themselves? But the church does not tolerate such heresy. There is a process for determining if a deceased person qualifies to be ranked as a saint, but there is no hint that new saints become minor deities. They are commissioned to help the Catholic god.
2. The Virgin Mary
Years ago, I asked a prominent Italian TV journalist if it is really possible that all of the folks in the Vatican believe the goofy dogmas that it promotes. He answered, “Oh, maybe half of them do, but don’t forget, it’s a business.” The Virgin Mary is a huge part of this business. She is to be venerated, not worshipped—but how many of the faithful could explain the difference? She has been declared the Queen of Heaven, which is an amazing promotion.
Jesus would not have been tainted by original sin on his father’s side—since his father was the holy spirit (more make-believe), but couldn’t Mary have been the guilty party? In the mid-16th century, the Council of Trent had declared that Mary was free from original sin, but it became official dogma of the church in 1854 when Pope Pius IX declared it so. In 1950, Pope Pius XII declared yet another dogma relating to Mary: that she had bodily ascended to heaven. So her status as Queen of Heaven was secured. But again, an objective, outside observer wants to see the reliable, verifiable, objective evidence to justify acceptance of the Immaculate Conception and Mary’s body ending up in heaven. These ideas are based on theological assumptions and necessities. Which is yet another way of saying make-believe.
There are so many Christian brands that reject both concepts.
How could anyone know what was going on in the womb of Mary’s mother when she was conceived? Mary’s body ascended to heaven? So where is she now…somewhere between the orbit of Earth and Mars? “Ascended to heaven” is based on the naïve biblical concept of earth-heaven: there’s a flat earth (no knowledge that it is a planet), and above the clouds and below the moon, the realm of gods, angels, and demons. In 1950, surely Pope Pius XII was fully aware of the scope of the Cosmos, but it was his business to keep make-believe alive and well.
The probable source of Catholic adoration of Mary is the fantasy narrative found at the opening of Luke’s gospel. The angel Gabriel visits Mary to announce that she will be the mother of the son of god. Mary is puzzled because she is a virgin, but Gabriel responds: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God” (Luke 1:35). We can acknowledge that this is fantasy narrative because it’s highly unlikely anybody was there taking notes—or that the author of Luke had access some fifty years later to an archive where the notes had been deposited. This scene is found only in Luke’s gospel. He used his imagination to promote the Jesus-cult.
The Vatican also promotes the idea that the Virgin Mary makes personal appearances at many places in the world—most notably, perhaps, her 1917 appearances at Fatima in Portugal. A bishop in 1930 declared that the visions of 1917 were “worthy of belief.” This cult of Mary manifests in spectacular ways. I’ve seen the videos of huge—highly idealized—statues of Mary being carried at Catholic events: these truly are cult performances.
In a moment I will point out that there are occasions when it would be supremely appropriate for Mary to show up—but she fails to do so.
By the way, what does the New Testament have to say about Mary—aside from Luke’s fantasy?
In Mark 3 we are told that his family “…went out to restrain him, for people were saying, ‘He has gone out of his mind’”(Mark 3:21). Jesus puts down his family: “A crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, ‘Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.’ And he replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother’” (Mark 3:32-35). And in the story of Jesus changing water to wine at the wedding in Cana, Jesus scolds his mother: “When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to me and to you? My hour has not yet come’” (John 2:3-4).
There is no hint whatever in the New Testament that Mary should be given such exaggerated status. This is Catholic hype—totally. And inappropriate hype, it must be stressed. The idealized images of Mary, i.e., she is depicted as white, with elaborate crown and/or halo—reflect the Catholic obsession with turning her into the Queen of Heaven. A few months ago I came across this flyer inviting people
to the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima—who is addressed as “O Most Holy Virgin Mary, Queen of the most holy Rosary.” We can see that Catholic theology has run rampant, which so many of the faithful take in stride.
Devout Catholics seem to have missed the news that there were other holy heroes in the ancient world who were believed to be virgin-born. It was an idea that Christianity borrowed. For a thorough explanation of this fact, see Richard Carrier’s 2016 essay, Virgin Birth: It’s Pagan, Guys. Get Over It.
3. The Excessive Costuming
This means that the church’s business actually was turned into show business. Their make-believe is more convincing if it’s spectacular! For this it needed magnificent churches with art work and stained-glass windows, elaborate rituals and ceremonies, sparkling plates and bejeweled cups, clouds of incense—on top of which are the outrageous costumes. I have often asked, “What are these guys playing at?” Keeping make-believe alive is their goal. And maybe—just maybe—their envy of drag queens is showing!
Here are a few examples of authoritarianism:
1. Opposition to birth control, contraception, and abortion
This message has been preached to the poorest countries, as well as to well-off nations. This has caused human suffering beyond calculation, brought on my inflexible, authoritarian theology. Do the faithful really believe that it’s god’s will that women who are raped, or submit to sex from demanding husbands, must bear the children that are conceived in this way? Do the faithful really believe—as their clergy have assured them—that “the soul” is ignited at the moment of conception? This is bad theology. It is also a disaster from the standpoint of overpopulation. Experts on the dangers our planet faces are deeply concerned that the human population just keeps growing.
2. The persistent misogyny
Even Pope Francis was adamant that the church would never ordain women as priests—despite the fact that many Catholic women have felt the call of god for them to become priests. In other words, the Vatican is saying that this deep spiritual feeling is false, and will not be acknowledged. Authoritarian indeed.
3. The persistent homophobia
To appreciate the supreme irony here, read Frédéric Martel’s 2019 book, In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy (550 pages, published in eight languages). Based on four years of research, Martel begins the presentation of his study in the Prologue:
“The Vatican has one of the biggest gay communities in the world, and I doubt whether, even is San Francisco’s Castro, the emblematic gay quarter, though more mixed today, there are quite as many gays!” (p. xi)
Martel refers to a secret report created by three cardinals: “This report is said to reveal not so much the existence of a ‘gay lobby’, as was said, as the omnipresence of homosexuals in the Vatican, blackmail and harassment built into the system.” (p. xiii)
“…sexual desire, and homosexual desire first and foremost, is one of the main engines and wellsprings of Vatican life.” (p. xv)
The position of the Catholic church is that homosexuality is a disorder. Popes Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II brought their virulent homophobia with them to the Vatican, from Germany and Poland—and were no doubt aware of the three points that I quoted from Martel’s Prologue.
Which brings me, finally, to perhaps the main reason that the Catholic church qualifies as a dangerous cult. By one estimate, to date the church has paid more than four billion dollars in legal settlements for child sex abuse cases. As Richard Carrier has stated in his 2018 essay, What’s the Harm? Why Religious Belief Is Always Bad:
“The Catholic Church is an international rape factory. And has been for decades, possibly untold centuries. Religious belief not only allowed that to happen, it is still allowing it to happen, as believers refuse to leave the church, refusing to effect any substantive reform that would prevent it, refusing to find a less deadly and destructive religion to believe in and support.”
If the Virgin Mary makes frequent personal appearances, she should be promoted to abuse monitor. It should be one of her top priorities to show up when a priest is about to abuse a child. She should yell at the guy, “Don’t even think about it! There is no forgiveness for this level of sin. Not even my son can save you if you do this!”
With this scandal of child abuse in full view, I have often wondered: “Why isn’t membership in the Catholic church down to zero by now?” This hasn’t happened because the church specializes in convincing the devout that make-believe is real, that it knows the formula for escaping death, gaining eternal life. As Irving Berlin once wrote, “There’s no business like show business” —and far too many of the faithful are fooled by the show.
David Madison was a pastor in the Methodist Church for nine years, and has a PhD in Biblical Studies from Boston University. He is the author of Ten Tough Problems in Christian Thought and Belief: a Minister-Turned-Atheist Shows Why You Should Ditch the Faith, now being reissued in several volumes:
· Guessing About God (2023),
· Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn’t Taught: And Other Reasons to Question His Words (2021). The Spanish translation of this book is also available.
· Everything You Need to Know About Prayer But May Not Want to Admit (2025)
His YouTube channel is here. At the invitation of John Loftus, he has written for the Debunking Christianity Blog since 2016.
The Cure-for-Christianity Library©, now with more than 500 titles, is here. A brief video explanation of the Library is here.
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