Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
From one the leading Catholic priests in all of England:
Offering what may be an explanation for the explosion of homosexuality in recent years, Fr. Davies said, "Among the causes of homosexuality is a contagious demonic factor."
There is no "explosion of homosexuality" in recent years, of course. There are as many homosexuals now as there have ever been. What has changed is the degree of sexual acceptance and the resulting decrease in danger - to one's social standing, employment prospects and even life expectancy - for those who are openly homosexual. The same number of people were homosexual in the past, you just didn't know they were because they were in the closet.
By the way, all us humanists are being blinded by Satan too:
He also said that Satan is responsible for having blinded most secular humanists to the "dehumanising effects of contraception and abortion and IVF, of homosexual 'marriages', of human cloning and the vivisection of human embryos in scientific research." Extreme secular humanism, "atheist scientism", is comparable to "rational satanism" and these are leading Europe into a dangerous state of apostasy. "Only by a genuine personal decision for Christ and the Church can someone separate himself from it."
Well isn't that special. Here's my favorite part:
In the Catholic Church, exorcisms can only be performed by a priest who has the "express" permission of his bishop.
That's good advice. And never use an unlicensed ghostbuster either.
Politics
Comments
Dude, you gotta understand the word usage here: "explosion of homosexuality" means this priest suddenly realized that homosexuals exist, and the realization made his head explode.
Posted by: Raging Bee | August 20, 2008 9:23 AM
And never use an unlicensed ghostbuster either.
Yeah, if two unlicenced ghostbusters crossed their streams in a crowded hotel, it might cause an explosion of homosexuality.
It would be bad.
Posted by: Raging Bee | August 20, 2008 9:26 AM
Hmmm. I sense a telethon in the making! "Help us cure CDF!" Contagious Demonic Factor could be the new name for Teh Gay! And assholes could get rich running the telethon!
Posted by: Coragyps | August 20, 2008 9:39 AM
I'm proud to be a "rational satanist", since it appears that Satan stands for equal rights, scientific progress, and reason.
Posted by: Wes | August 20, 2008 9:40 AM
Get thee behind me Swindler.
Posted by: Abby Normal | August 20, 2008 9:44 AM
So demon sex is so hot it can turn people gay? I see a new advertising campaign for vacations in Provincetown and San Francisco.
Posted by: Zeno | August 20, 2008 9:51 AM
Over here in the UK our religious spokesmen may have a lot less political clout than in the US but that doesn't stop them being any less crazy.
Sadly it reminds me of John McCain's get-out-of-anything-free card "I was a POW you know!" as any time these folks don't like anything it must be SATAN!
Posted by: David Durant | August 20, 2008 10:22 AM
How come Satan always has all of the fun?
Posted by: Thony C. | August 20, 2008 10:26 AM
three cheers for Satan
Posted by: Ex Partiate | August 20, 2008 10:42 AM
Lifesite has spun this a bit. Westminster is the diocese where the English Cardinal lives (in central London), but being a priest in that diocese carries no special significance.
Posted by: Bartholomew | August 20, 2008 10:48 AM
Dehumanizing effects of IVF, huh?
::looks at small child bouncing around the living room:: I dunno, but she looks pretty human to me.
Maybe it's just me, but I've reached the point where almost anything said by a religious leader leaves me saying "I do not think that means what you think it means."
Posted by: Mara | August 20, 2008 11:06 AM
Yeah, if two unlicenced ghostbusters crossed their streams in a crowded hotel, it might cause an explosion of homosexuality.
IIRC, the consequences were something like "Think of the end of the universe as we know it." And that's pretty much what Fr. Davies experiences when people start taking him and his dogmas less seriously.
Posted by: Scott Hanley | August 20, 2008 11:22 AM
If only I had the foresight to deny rational satanism at a younger age. It was the gateway to my current embrace of atheist scientism. Oh, what am I to do now? What are WE to do to eradicate our culture of these demonic factors??
Posted by: Jesse | August 20, 2008 11:30 AM
If only I had the foresight to deny rational satanism at a younger age. It was the gateway to my current embrace of atheist scientism. Oh, what am I to do now? What are WE to do to eradicate our culture of these demonic factors??
Posted by: Jesse | August 20, 2008 11:32 AM
Do we have any actual evidence for this claim? I am not disagreeing - I assume it's right, and agree entirely with your points about why there may seem to be more homosexuals, or seem to be more open homosexuals at least - but is there actually any empirical evidence relating to homosexual numbers in the human population?
Given the reliance any 'evidence' would probably have on people telling the truth, I can't see how there could be any, off the top of my head.
Posted by: Matthew | August 20, 2008 11:42 AM
If there was "no 'explosion of homosexuality' in recent years", then what were those noises coming through the motel room walls a year or so back in Virginia?
Posted by: Pierce R. Butler | August 20, 2008 11:45 AM
"Rational satanism". Oh dear. :)
A homosexual explosion sounds rather messy as well, I hope Davies has enough tissues to clean up.
It's a bit odd when leading Catholics strike up in the UK though, it's not like the UK has been traditionally Catholic since the reformation. If anything was to be the work of Satan which would lead to a homosexual detonation, I would have thought the denunciation and persecution of Catholics following the breakup and siezure of all the assorted cathedrals, monasteries and other associated church lands would have done the trick.
Posted by: Andrew | August 20, 2008 11:46 AM
And in England, too. Sad. At least, as David Durant notes, this type of lunacy does not prevail in the national political discourse as it does on this side of the pond.
Posted by: Sadie Morrison | August 20, 2008 12:27 PM
"contagious demonic factor"?
Is that code for homophobic homosexual priesthood?
Posted by: WTFWJD | August 20, 2008 1:24 PM
Posted by: Taz | August 20, 2008 1:30 PM
"Rational satanism"... I think I've found my new "religious views" on Facebook.
Posted by: Jordan | August 20, 2008 2:34 PM
"Dehumanizing effects of IVF, huh?"
Yeah, apparently it's better to never fertilize eggs that have no other chance of becoming humans than to fertilize a few outside the uterus that might be frozen or not become implanted.
They are even against the procedure that takes the man's low motility sperm and injects it directly into the woman's uterus. Here is a quote from an online article from "The Catholic World News".
"...the physician injects a sample of the husband's semen, illicitly obtained, directly into the wife's uterus."
Wow, "illicitly obtained" semen! I guess these doctors must be robbing sperm banks or accosting unsuspecting "donors" and forcing "donations".
Or maybe they just mean that the husband jacked-off I. I guess that masturbation is still a sin even if you do it for procreative reasons. What if the misses helps?
Not that there is any point in trying to rationalize the policies of the Catholic Church. Once you accept that a cracker is the living flesh of your God you'll believe just about anything I guess.
Posted by: Lance | August 20, 2008 3:27 PM
"Dehumanizing effects of IVF, huh?"
Yeah, apparently it's better to never fertilize eggs that have no other chance of becoming humans than to fertilize a few outside the uterus that might be frozen or not become implanted.
They are even against the procedure that takes the man's low motility sperm and injects it directly into the woman's uterus. Here is a quote from an online article from "The Catholic World News".
"...the physician injects a sample of the husband's semen, illicitly obtained, directly into the wife's uterus."
Wow, "illicitly obtained" semen! I guess these doctors must be robbing sperm banks or accosting unsuspecting "donors" and forcing "donations".
Or maybe they just mean that the husband jacked-off. I guess that masturbation is still a sin even if you do it for procreative reasons. What if the misses helps?
Not that there is any point in trying to rationalize the policies of the Catholic Church. Once you accept that a cracker is the living flesh of your God you'll believe just about anything I guess.
The most insidious part of this is that it condemns many Catholic couples, desperate for children that they could have with IVF, to remain childless.
Antoher beautiful example of "Christian love".
Posted by: Lance | August 20, 2008 3:35 PM
Oops, sorry for the double posts. Not sure how that happened.
Posted by: Lance | August 20, 2008 3:36 PM
Lance, I agree with your point overall, but I would like to mention that lack of access to IVF does not necessarily "condemn" a couple to childlessness unless the couple has no interest in becoming parents via adoption. The couple would miss out on reproduction, but not necessarily parenthood.
Elf Eye, aka Patty's Mom (via adoption)
Posted by: Elf Eye | August 20, 2008 3:51 PM
Good point Elf Eye.
Posted by: Lance | August 20, 2008 4:16 PM
"...a contagious demonic factor."
Dude, now I wanna be gay!
Posted by: IgnatiusJReilly | August 20, 2008 6:24 PM
In other words, it was the gay sex demons.
Posted by: Turcano | August 20, 2008 7:31 PM
So priests don't like condoms because they get stuck to the children's braces?
Posted by: khan | August 20, 2008 8:37 PM
Lance:
"Or maybe they just mean that the husband jacked-off. I guess that masturbation is still a sin even if you do it for procreative reasons. What if the misses helps?"
He's catholic, dude, "misses" would be, like, a mormon thing.
Posted by: democommie | August 20, 2008 9:32 PM
"Contagious demonic factor." Hmm. So what does one say when a demon sneezes?
Posted by: Mark C | August 20, 2008 11:25 PM
MarkC: So what does one say when a demon sneezes?
You say, "Goes in tight."
Posted by: Q | August 21, 2008 12:03 AM
Theres been an explosion in homosexuality?
Hah, like i'd be so lucky.
Posted by: richard Eis | August 21, 2008 8:19 AM
"The same number of people were homosexual in the past, you just didn't know they were because they were in the closet."
I was rather surprised to see you write this, Ed, because it's exactly the sort of claim you'd ridicule if other people made it. For instance: "The Earth is only 6000 years old. Fossils that appear to be millions of years old only exist because God made them look that way." Or: "The communion wafer really does become the body of Christ; it only still tastes like a wafer because God does a second miracle to keep it from tasting like human flesh."
As opposed to the above claims, I'm inclined to agree that homosexual orientation, at least, may not have changed much throughout human history. But that's really just an assumption; I don't think it's provable.
Posted by: Eric Seymour | August 21, 2008 9:18 AM
There are as many homosexuals now as there have ever been. What has changed is the degree of sexual acceptance and the resulting decrease in danger - to one's social standing, employment prospects and even life expectancy - for those who are openly homosexual.
That assumes that everyone is at the extremes of the Kinsey scale. I'd argue that someone near the middle of the Kinsey scale who practices only one way is for all practical purposes either straight or gay depending...
And mark me down as a Rational Satanist if that's how he wants to define the terms. Of course I'm of the belief that one of the biggest nexuses of corruption on earth is Vatican City although the further fringes of the Catholic Church often excercise a benevolent influence.
Posted by: Francis | August 22, 2008 5:09 AM