Pope Calls for All Catholics to Fast on March 5 Against War

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Originally Posted by El Blanco

What do you tell your kids when they get punched in the mouth?

W.W.J.D. ???????

[El Blanco]

You run out of cheeks eventually. And he moves on to the next victim.

OK I'm not the best Catholic. I'm what I like to call a practicing Catholic. I'm not that good at it so I need to keep practicing.

[mburbank]

Luckily so far my kids hve not gotten punched in the mouth. I however took fair share of punches, and I'll tell you what my folks told me.

Make sure the school knows. Make sure my parents know. There are systems in place that work to deal with violence. They often don't work well, but they are better than violence.

Actually, my Dad told me to bite my attacker until I tasted blood. I didn't do it, though.

I'm not a complete pacifist. I believe there are times when force is the only thing left. BUT. These times are very, very, very rare, and they always represent multiple failures along the way, multiple lost opportunities. The use of force is always tragic, should never be celebrated and massive effort should be expended during times of peace to ensure force becomes more and more obsolete. War is hopeless, damaging and corrupting the soul of the victor quitely but viciously as it physically damages the enemy and sowing seeds of future war as it goes.

Pacafism is hard, and has costs. There i suffering involved. It takes courage. Jesus did not say 'Turn the other cheek unless your opeonent left a mark the first time, in which case trip him, get on his chest and beat the shit out of him.' He didn't even say 'hit your opponent back exactly as hard as he hit you'. That eye for an eye shit is the code of the Hamurabi, and Jesus was trying to get rid of it. It should be noted, the code of the Hamurabi was quite liberal for it's time, trying to replace the reigning doctrine of a life for an eye, and the lives of their family as well. Sadly, this is what our current doctrine of massive retaliation with overwhelming force will take us back to.

We are the strongest nation on earth. If we cannot absorb the suffering required by turning the other cheek, who will?

[Ronnie Raygun]

Yes, like the Pope and his molesting priests have any credibility.

Face it, the church needs new leadership.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Raygun never lets me down.

[ItalianStereotype]

ach-HEM

FUCK YOU RONNIE

[Ronnie Raygun]

FUCK ME?

Italian, does the church leadership have any credibility after supporting child molesting preists? Do you not agree that something is wrong here?

[ItalianStereotype]

there is indeed something wrong, but i wont drag the pope down to the same level as the preists and i will never think that he should be replaced. it just seems anathema to me.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

If the Roman Catholic Church, like the Southern Baptist Church, came out in support of this war, Ronnie would over look the Church's internal problems, I'm sure.

I knew this thread would break the conservative flank on these boards.

[ItalianStereotype]

dont be so sure kevin. on almost any issue conservatives will stand together, but we are all different sects and religions. there is even room for conflict among the liberals....

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Well, not to create a huge tangent, but 2 points:

1. This war doesn't even measure up to REAL conservative ideals.

2. Catholics are generally more Liberal.

[ItalianStereotype]

this war is kind of in a grey area, but is still dividing on partisan lines....

im a southern catholic, what you are thinking of are catholics from the northeast.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Originally Posted by ItalianStereotype

im a southern catholic, what you are thinking of are catholics from the northeast.

Which is the strong hold for Catholocism in America.

[mburbank]

It seems very telling to me that with all the extremely serious questions of faith raised in this thread, Naldo chooses to zero in on the heirarchy of the catholic church. Not the slvation or lack there of of Catholic Souls, not the defining qualities of Christianity, not who is judge and who judged for all eternity, just the earthly credability of the current leadership.

Now this is where Nald chimes in "Well YOU must SUPPORT child molestation"

Or maybe if he's not all agitated

"So you don't think there support of Child Molestation makes their credability questionable?"

So. Let me say plainly, if you want to start a thread on what the crisis within the Catholic Church means to it's Members, do so. I'll give my two cents. As large as that issue is right now, the questions raised here what beliefs merited salvation in the Christian Tradition.

Unless of course you read only the very begining of this conversation, about fasting and all. If so, you must of missed where a number of non catholics said they intended to fast. There is wwhole lot more happening n every level of this thread than a question of this popes Credability level at this moment. Or did you think Catholics were slaves?

[El Blanco]

Hey, Ronnie, aren't you backing up the party that gave us North and Poindexter? Want to talk credibility?

Did you know that there is a large class action suit against the Southern Baptists on behalf of the generations of children who were molested? You want ugly details from the NYC public school system? Ever heard of Silent Lambs?

The church was wrong in hiding them and moving them to where they could get to other children. But its not the Church that attracts the sickos, its the ability to be an autority figure to children.

[mburbank]

Ronnie likes to do his tarring with the largest brush possible.

[AChimp]

your all dumb cuz he wasn't divine.

[slavemason]

The main problem I have with Christianity is the evangelism. You wouldn't have as many conflicts if you didn't have these dogmatic plate passers condemning damn near everyone. I'm agnostic by the way.

[El Blanco]

That isn't all of them. And you can't blame them for being loud about their message. It is part of the job description.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

They likewise would view themselves as being selfish if they weren't to share the "good news" with everyone else....

[slavemason]

I know the bad apple bit but you need to take care of your own mess before you go telling other people how to clean up there's. How can Christians stand by while assholes like the God Hates Fags people are picketing funerals and telling folks their kid is in hell if their faggot son didn' t accept Jesus as his lord and savior in his dieing breaths?

[El Blanco]

What would you have us do? Lynch the idiots?

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Blanco is right. They have every right to be morons, just like others have the right to slander the Church in absurd ways.

[Ronnie Raygun]

Falwell has spoken against that website on Fox News. I know you probably don't like him but he has spoken out against it.

[slavemason]

You're right, I don't like him but I will appreciate any effort to shut those people up. I also agree that they have the right to be morons, I'm just glad I don't have anything in common with their public views.