AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
Elizabeth Farrelly
Cardinal George Pell is to have his day in court. The Left pools its rotten tomatoes.The Establishment mobilises in the cardinal’s defence, frantically crowdfunding as though it were pauperism that threatened him, not criminal charges; as though an outpouring of alms might sway the outcome, orisons to the almighty.
In this way the long-awaited indictment of George Pell has ballooned well beyond itself, eclipsing the mere man to become a key skirmish in atheism’s War on God. “See?” say my friends. “That’s why religion has to go.” But is that really what’s going on here? Is this really an argument about religion? Or is it something else entirely?
Weirdly, for a holy war, the battle credos don’t mention theology, or anything remotely spiritual. Nor do they go to law or morality. Few of us, after all, can know Pell’s guilt or innocence: fewer still would deny the man his right to a fair trial. No, the Pell Palaver is all about politics. And, as ever in Australia, that means it’s tribal, rusted-on and largely impervious to reason. All take sides.
At one level, though, the speed and intensity of this politicisation is apt. For, despite atheism’s kneejerk I-told-you-sos, priestly child-abuse is not about sex or religion. It’s about power; a crime not of sex, but of violence. The battle is really between those who would tear (or amend) down existing power structures, and those who defend them.
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