The sex sermonist and poor old Brother Ray

Christopher West reminds me of Brother Ray, an old teacher of mine from high school. Brother Ray meant well. He was earnest, he tried to relate to us kids and he tried to be hip. I thought him to be ridiculous. Every time he tried to "rap" with us, I think, "Oh man, Brother Ray's talkin' about sex again. Gag me with a spoon why don'tcha?"

Poor Christopher West says that the editors of Nightline used dicey editing to make him look bad with his Hugh Hefner and JPII as his muses quote. But West bungled into it by bringing Hefner up in the first place. Every time Christians try to look sophisticated and clever and make friends with the world they make themsleves look stupid. It's like Christian pop music. It's dumb, second rate and embarrassing at best.

Hugh Hefner is no liberator who went wrong. He didn't want to save Americans from prudery, the dude wanted and still wants to degrade women. Period. And that's what he's done.

Prudence has been given a bad name. It was a societal protection for the young. Once upon a time in the prudish past if a man looked too long at a 15 year old girl his decent friends would reprove him. Others, not his friends would just think that boy aint right. I better not hang with him or he'll get me into a mess of trouble. Now everybody laughs and a few may remind him jokingly that 15 will get ya 20, but most just laugh. They'd kill him if he were to mess with their 15 year old but otherwise it's okay. Is that an improvement?

Once a young man knew that he had to treat the girl next door with respect or society would make him pay for it. Hugh Hefner has successfully taught that the girl next door is a just whore at heart-- no different that the creatures walking the street in the red light district and that she really wants to be used and discarded. When Jay-Z sang about not trusting or needing women for anything more than sex he was reflecting the zeitgeist that Hefner wrought.

And folks we are not bound to study TOB anymore than we're bound to study the rythm of our fertility stages. It's not a sacrament. It's not a law of the Church. It was a hobby of JPII. When the pope is talking about the deposit of the Faith I'm there. But when he's talking about cooking, fishing or sacred sex I can go work on my stamp collection with a clear concience. As much as I love John Paul II, if you ask me if I know what he really said about sex I will cheerfully respond, (depending on how old you are or what your state in life is) that yes, I do but I really don't give a rat's ass.