Abbott's religous bigotry

Now that the Abbott Apocalypse is entirely upon us, I thought I'd look up about his Catholic past (or present really). It's well known that as health minister under the Howard gov he tried to stop the RU486 abortion pill coming into Australia. Now that he's our new glorious unrepresentative swill, surely we now want to know about what sort of stupid decisions he's going to make on our behalf? You know, those sort of questions that should have been asked by everyone before they entered the bloody polling booth last Saturday. This from when he was in opposition 2011.

Abbott went to the right school for a teenager with leadership ambitions. St Ignatius College, or Riverview, in Sydney’s Lane Cove, is run by the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, whose members are called “soldiers of Christ” – which suits the Abbott persona. The Jesuits are renowned for preparing potential leaders for public life. They stress self-abnegation and obedience and have been called papal “elite troops”. Their spirituality rests on the ability to “conquer” oneself and regulate one’s life in such a way that no decision is made under the influence of “inordinate attachment”.

A highly motivated Abbott was often dux of his year at Riverview and vice-captain in year 12 – an impressive record that rests strangely with his not being a “goody two shoes”. It was at Riverview that Abbott met Father Emmet Costello, who was pastoral adviser to the great and the good, and to those, like Abbott, who seemed destined for leadership. Costello was a Bentley-driving conservative from a wealthy family with large landholdings in the Pacific. He was drawn to politics and had a rare facility with language. He encouraged Abbott to think about a political future for himself.

Duffy says the Catholicism the two share is muscular and worldly: “The faith instinct in Abbott is highly developed but not particularly introspective or spiritual. Like many people, he turns to religion to find community, a set of rules for behaviour, contact with the [spiritual], and for an important part of his identity and his sense of place in the world. Religion, like politics, has been valuable in creating a context in which his natural aggressiveness can be exercised legitimately.”

Costello not only identified Abbott as a future leader but also advised one-time Liberal attorney-general and godfather of the Australian bar, Tom Hughes, during periods of religious doubt. Costello also tended to the spiritual needs of Turnbull, a Catholic convert who married Hughes’s daughter, Lucy. Abbott says Costello has been very significant in a lot of lives: “Once upon a time, part of the mission of the Jesuits was to identify the leaders and potential leaders of society and evangelise them and Emmet is a modern exponent of that style of Jesuit. Now, I think regretfully, there are far fewer Jesuits of that type left and the order is much less enamoured of that kind of mission than it once was.” more

Well surprise surprise.... Wouldn't you know it..... Tony Abbott is deeply religious and almost became a Catholic priest. He thinks George Pell is just marvelous (our other Catholic archbishop unrepresentative swill) who is well known for defending paedophiles in court.

This photo demonstrates why Broken Rites was needed. In the photo, Catholic priest Gerald Ridsdale (left, in sunglasses and hat) walks to court, accompanied by his support person (Bishop George Pell, then an auxiliary bishop in Melbourne), when Father Ridsdale was pleading guilty to his first batch of criminal charges in May 1993. But no bishop accompanied the victims, who felt deserted by the church leaders. more

So darlings, we now have a prime minister who adores paedophile protector George Pell, who notably agreed with the Pope a while back that condoms increased HIV. 

Fuck knows what Pell thinks of me then; an HIV+ gay. I doubt that marriage equality is very high on Tony Abbott's agenda.

Fuck, I just can't believe this fuckwit is now my Prime Minister.