Christian Buttheads

Weblogger “Bad” has a look at some Catholics in the leagues of the Perpetually Indignant.

I basically agree with his thrust; what the student did was sacreligious and just plain frickin’ rude, but some of the reactions he evoked are almost as offensive and are certainly embarrassing.

This actually points to an old, old argument between Protestants and Catholics. It’s a little weird to hear this referred to as a specifically “Catholic” thing, though if you’re Catholic you kind of get used to that. Much of the Protestant Reformation circled around angry arguments as to the nature of the bread and wine in Communion. People used to kill each other over this argument–literally. But nowadays, it seems to have devolved to an argument mostly between Evangelicals and Everybody Else: mainline, old-line Protestants, the Orthodox (both kinds), and Catholics all affirm the core doctrine that, during the ceremony of Communion, Christ is literally present in the bread and wine; the generic, ecumenical term is “The Real Presence.” What they teach–and really, once again, we’re talking about the vast majority of Christians worldwide here, not just the evull Catlickers–is that once the bread and wine have been consecrated, it is literally God present there, and if you’re not in a proper state to handle and receive it then you’re committing a sin. Catholics call the mystery Transubstantiation, Lutherans call it Consubstantiation, I forget what the other mainline Protestants and the Orthodox call it, but they’re all talking about the same Real Presence of Jesus. About the only Christians who don’t believe this are the Evangelicals, who are huge in the United States but really quite small in number outside of North America.

It’s a little ironic to some of us that the people who claim that they interpret the Bible “literally, not symbolically” choose to view this most sacred and ancient of Christian rites symbolically; Christ says in numerous places, quite clearly and unequivocally, that this is his body, this is his blood, compares it to the manna that fell from Heaven for Moses, and even says that without it you cannot inherit eternal life. This rite was in widespread practice by Christians before there was anything that they called a “Bible”–although most of us would agree that this is exactly what the Bible, both literally and figuratively, says about Holy Communion. Catholic and Orthodox (both kinds) have Communion at practically every worship service; most of the old-line Protestants do it a little less often, but only because they feel it’s so important it should only be done when you’ve spent weeks preparing for it, basically.

So. To get back to the point: the reaction of some Catholics to this obnoxious student who treated a communion wafer poorly is borderline hysterical–and not in the funny sense. Anyone with his head screwed on straight would know that while this is sacrilegious and insulting, it is not “kidnapping Jesus,” and far worse things have been done throughout history to communion bread. God somehow manages to survive I think. (Or not, if you’re a rabid atheist or something.)