Pope Benedict the somethingth

Rather a blinkered view. The Catholic church actually teaches that condoms do not prevent the transmission of AIDS and have funded pseudo-scientific research to "prove" this, despite overwhelming scientific consensus that this is incorrect. So they are responsible for promoting dangerous misinformation in the third world where people are at great risk from the AIDS pandemic. This is why the Catholic church is a particularly insidious force for backwardness and ignorance in the world.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/aids/story/0,7369,1059068,00.html
The WHO has condemned the Vatican's views, saying: "These incorrect statements about condoms and HIV are dangerous when we are facing a global pandemic which has already killed more than 20 million people, and currently affects at least 42 million."

 

Not in the Western world. In the Western world, the catholic church is contending with a declining church attendance in much the same way as the anglican church. Not to mention the fact that half its followers ignore its doctrine anyway.

 

Hardly anti-continental, but unashamedly anti-Pope. I'm very much anti organised religion. However if people choose to follow a faith, that's their choice, and I would encourage more liberal elements of religion to win the arguments against conservatives....

 

Religion appears to be dominant in the poorer parts of the world, maybe people are closer to, and deal with death, a lot more than we do.

Power is still the main principle behind most of their actions. The new pope has conservatist principles which will encourage the growth of catholocism in the third world. Men are still in charge, and subjegate the women with aids.

Do we abandon religion altogether ? The human animal seems to require some spiritual fulfilment, what should be its replacement ?

 

Religion and spirituality are two separate things. Religion is not a requirement of spirituality.

 

I fucking hate Catholicism... and I speak as someone who used to be one... it is the most repressing mind-fuck imaginable... and... as a result... I reserve the right to catholics dead on sight...


Fly...

 

The question is - does he really have his bollocks checked? There's a 'legend' of Pope Joan masquerading as a man until she became pregnant (bit of a giveaway there....) so now allegedly there are seats with holes in so the pope is checked that he's not a woman or a eunuch. This has been denied and the chairs are thought to be roman bidets.....hmmmmm. How much bollock tickling really goes on in the Vatican eh?!? :X

 

I think it is true.. i heard they incoparate (checking) it into a ceromony even now (i think ?)....

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/popeJoan.html

The Museum of Hoaxes
(Click To order)

who knows ????

 

Archbishop Desmond Tutu is a Protestant

 

Please enlighten me.

Surely spirit/soul requires a regime or at least a set of guidelines for fulfillment, thus a religion. I agree not necessarily one already in existence, but right/wrong needs instructing.

 

A purely spiritual approach does not require notions of right or wrong, because it's simply aiming directly at the human heart in a natural way.

 

Cheers Green.

I struggle with the concept of the heart as the vessel for spirituality, after all is does not the heart bear some of our baser instincts, surely not to be completely trusted.

I cant find a definition of Spirituality with Religion.

Apologies if this has gone of thread, but Catholic bashing surely has had its run.

 

The human heart is just a muscle.

 

So you're essentially saying that in order to find enlightenment, you need someone else to tell you how to do it? If that were the case, nobody would ever have achieved enlightnement to begin with, would they?

Why should our souls require 'guidelines'? Why should we not be able to inform our own choices? The moment we start listening to institutions, we hand responsibility for our morality over to an external agency.

 

Correct, but since mankind has not yet achieved an ordered natural state you need organization to put some commonality in the moral. It's more or less a representative system, like government in most western countries.

 

Yes I suppose I probably am. I try my best with the mind I'm given, but have there not already greater minds/souls given much thought to this. And maybe their ideas might have significance.

Thanks for the chat. Bless

 

I don't doubt it. But dressing in a frock doesn't change that one way or another.

 

isnt the pope 78.well be looking for new one soon

 

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