DeftilI don't think it's a good idea to let them rave like mad men. This type of thing needs to be addressed. People are (supposedly) actually threatening the life of some young man because he took a cracker from a church!
The ones that are raving like mad men and making threats is not the ones I would worry about. It is the billions that are saying nothing I would worry about.
I pastor a church and if the young man had come to my church and ask for communion bread, (it is not a cracker) I would have gladly gave him some and explained what it was so he could have explained to his friend. But I am not Catholic.
To the Catholic when the Priest takes the Eucharist, and blesses it. It becomes the actual body of Jesus Christ, it does not represent the body of Christ it is the actual body of Christ, so the young man did not take a cracker, he took the body of Jesus Christ.
Slow down I hear you shouting all the way to my house.
As far as the Catholic Church is concerned the young man committed the most heinous crime he could possible commit against the Catholic Church.
It matters not that he did not know what he was doing, or that it would effect the Church as it did
Do I agree with the Catholic Church? No
Do I respect their right to believe and practice their religion as they desire? You can bet your life on it.
Does PZ have a right to raise his voice? Sure but discretion is sometimes the better part of valor.
Deftil I hope that helps you to understand the Catholic Church's position.
God Bless,
"John 5:39 (KJS) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."