Popeless and Hopeless

What makes you think it is not?

 

I know sensible christians who I speak with and who do not hide from reality, science or society's morals. Yes they have according to me and logic and reason doubtable convictions about the afterlife, Jesus and sins but it does not cloud their judgement or behaviour when dealing with reality. Actually they are so pragmatic in daily life they almost seem like normal people
But seriously, this also counts for priests. I know in this day and age it seems ridicilous to be celibate but that is just the general consensus. If you can't understand that some people like priests can go for that for the original reasons of the church than that is really only a flaw in your m ind and not in theirs. It seems weird perhaps, but so are some of the things you do too. It can seem misguided to me too that some people want to stay virgin until they marry (you have to see if it fits before you're literally stuck to each other right ) but why in earth should I disrespect their choice for doing so. I mean I'm all for it to joke about something we find hilarious but not for seriously bashing their choice and beliefs. I think we only have a righteous say in that when such people are bothering other people which is a slightly different matter than judging people you don't know by the worst members of their church.

 

I believe realistic Christian is an oxymoron.

 

Apparently realistic atheist too if you are the stereotypical atheist.

 

thank my-lack-of-a-god he isn't (yet) the stereotype. though its getting that way, certainly.

 

That's because you seem to have a fixated image of a christian. Some christians are indeed unrealistic, which is naturally (and obviously) not limited to christians alone. So my take on it is that those unrealistic christians are not so because they are christian but because of the person themselves.

 

ahhh.. you summed it all up in one word. ignorance! :2thumbsup:

 

Pope Francis, the first pope ever to come from the Western Hemisphere, is a bold and interesting choice. He is a Jesuit with a reputation for being passionate about social justice and economic justice, and for being an enemy of capitalist corporate empires. I think he's likely to shake things up, and possibly cause me to hate the Catholic Church less than I currently hate it. I think the Cardinals chose wisely, considering their options. This is a pleasant surprise.

 

DON'T CALL ME FRANCIS!!

 

Frank's a nice name.

 

A little background on the new guy:

http://news.yahoo.com/francis-first-pope-americas-193844474.html

I don't know how much success he will have in cleaning house, but I do believe he'll try. To me, he comes across as a no-bullshit kind of guy. Not what I was expecting.

 

You've met him?

I always thought organized religion was synonymous with bullshit.

 

I haven't suddenly become a fan of organized religion. I'm just surprised and somewhat impressed that the cardinals had the balls to go in a radical new direction. Most of the big problems people see in the Catholic Church are not associated with South America, Latino culture, or Jesuit priests.

If you look at the new pope's past accomplishments and reputation, it has little to do with clinging to centuries of European tradition or bureaucracy, and a lot to do with charitable work. Not too many people hate the work that Jesuits have done on behalf of the working class poor around the world.

I was expecting Catholicism to continue to slowly fade away into irrelevance. That may still happen, but I expect Francis I to make the story a lot more interesting, at least for a while. Let's see how long it takes before he locks horns with the old farts in the Vatican who don't want anything to change.
:lurk5:

 

We know