Bidding on the Host
While I'm not Catholic, I'm pretty sure I understand enough of Catholic teachings to explain the uproar about the eBay action of the communion element. Catholics take literally the verse in the Bible when Jesus, presenting the elements of the Lord's Supper said, “This is my body...” and “This is my blood...”. They teach that when the priest blesses the wafer and wine, than it literally becomes the flesh and blood of Jesus. Therefore to them, selling those elements on eBay is outrageous and offensive.
The wafer was offered on Saturday by a seller in Sloan, Iowa, and sold on Monday for $2,000 to a man in Cupertino, Calif.
I suspect that the buyer may have been motivated by a desire to respect the dignity he felt the wafer was owed, but then I don't really know.
Yes, I think the belief is silly, but it is their belief, and treating it in such a way was cruel. EBay also deserves criticism for not showing more respect. The seller deserves criticism for being such a rectal opening. Let's hope the buyers motivation was honorable.
It really bugs me, this idea of taunting others over their beliefs, and tossing it in their face. What's the rational behind that? Does the taunter really think that someday someone won't return the favor? Most of the time I see this done by agnostics who imagine that since they embrace an ambivalence toward religion that they are then immune from any sort of emotional attack in that area — but religion is only one of many areas people feel passionate about, and thus become a chink in our emotional armor. If you are human, there will be something that you hold dear — something that would tear at you if others laughed at. Why would there be any difference?
What if instead of a Communion wafer it had been a body part from one of your loved one's, possible sneaked out of the autopsy room by a unscrupulous medical assistant? Would you join in the laughter at someone selling your deceased wife's gall bladder on eBay? You dead mother's ears in a flea market? How about your murdered child's eye's on a necklace?
Yes, those are strong images, but I use them only to get across the point that Catholics feel just as strongly about what they believe is the flesh of Jesus Christ being auctioned to the highest bidder, while millions stand around and laugh.
Like I said, I'm not Catholic, and don't believe that the Communion elements really to become Jesus flesh and blood other than symbolically, and that only for those to whom the symbolism will speak to. But that doesn't prevent me from sympathizing with how they feel.
Related coverage (religious tolerance): WizBang, Jawa Report
Posted by Danny Carlton at April 14, 2005 11:22 AM