The Roman Catholic Church

[corydoras]

As if all the controversy and scandal over the sexual abuse of children by it so-called priests were not bad enough I just stumbled over this story.

 

Declaring that "life must always be protected", a senior Vatican cleric has defended the Catholic Church's decision to excommunicate the mother and doctors of a nine-year-old rape victim who had a life-saving abortion in Brazil.

 

Cardinal Giovanni Batista Re, who heads the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, told reporters that although the girl fell pregnant after apparently being abused by her stepfather, her twins had, "the right to live, and could not be eliminated".

 

So the Church decide to ex-communicate her mother, her doctor and the medical team at the hospital that carried out the abortion, but not the swine who raped her. According to Rome the abortion is a more heinous crime than the child-rape that led to it.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/am...im-1640165.html

 

It's enough to give me the squits.

[Little Roachess]

Since the RC church is against abortion and we have free speech let them have their say and condone everything that is disgusting in everyone's eyes, it won't do the RC's any good to keep backsliding the way the Bible teaches you should not. However, this article is jumping on the "hate all things papal" bandwagon. If you read what the Pope actually stated about the position of the Catholic Church on this issue you would see a different story. In general RC hates abortion-right or wrong, it's a tetchy issue for the public-but there were no statements given out to the press by the Pope himself or the close papal authorities regarding this individual case. But training must be given to those who are sent to isolated areas throughout the world if the Vatican does not wish egg on its face every time another of its groomed epistles steps further into the Levitical abyss!!!

 

In other words-stories from around the world are going to be printed every time a man with a mantle steps out of line and something should be done about it! The German Pope is an embarrassment! I'm glad I am not Roman Catholic! Think how uptight I would get trying to defend this kind of logic???

 

The nearest I want to get to RC'ism is buying a great rod for a great price using all things paypal!

[corydoras]

The Pope should be arrested and put on trial for aiding and abetting child abusers. The idea that The Vatican is a "country" and that the Pontiff has diplomatic immunity I find an abhorrent asynchronism in the 21st century. 110 acres and less than 1,000 inhabitants does not constitute a "country" in my eyes.

 

The notion that a child of nine years old should risk almost certain death rather than have an abortion is just plain medieval.

 

The thing that really p!sses me off about Christians in general and Catholics in particular is that these people will question how an atheist such as myself can have morals because I don't accept the hypothesis that their imaginary sky-daddy exists, whilst they will blithely blurt out apologetics for their own miscreants makes my flesh crawl.

 

A pox on all their houses.

Edited May 25, 2012 by corydoras

[jedibond]

Sky Daddy, that did make me chuckle cory, I'll mention that phrase the next time my catholic family starts kicking up

[Now there's a right un.]

My wife is RC and is appalled by the story.

[robtherake]

Please: don't get me started. If god exists - and I'm not proposing for one cotton-picking minute that he/it does - and is ineffable, how can a race of evolved monkeys propose to understand his/its intentions?

 

Christianity isn't even original; the ten commandments were borrowed from a much earlier religion.

The bible has been translated and mistranslated in and out of so many languages by scholars of questionable ability that it's original form was lost a long time ago.

Parts were added and removed to mollify pagans brought into the fold who already held their own unshakeable beliefs (Christmas is actually a pagan festival which involved a fortnight of naked drunkenness and feasting to celebrate the turning of the year - little wonder that the previous owners were reluctant to give it up) It's present form (sans Christus) is much closer to the ideals of it's originators than the god-bothering version. Whilst we're on the subject; if Jesus was such an influential chappy, with thousands of followers, why is there no reference to him by the chroniclers of the time? The first scholarly reference (so I'm led to believe) was several decades after his death! Work that one out. He's a fabricated hero dreamed up to ensure that Christianity won the religious popularity contest, that's what. It's even been worked out that his birth was much more likely to have been around April, which removes the last vestiges of the story's credibility, doesn't it.

His so-called virgin birth? It just so happens that the Hebrew word for Mary, meaning "a woman of marriageable age", was mistranslated by some terminally bored cleric as virgin. About as accurate as the rest of the book, then.

 

The very idea that people devote their whole lives to the belief of this manipulative claptrap boggles the mind. That their spiritual leaders can then vilify whole groups of people based on what they purport to be it's meaning... words fail me.

 

If we ever needed any evidence of the damage religion can do - and there's no question of that - the story which generated this thread is a prime example.

 

There are already tumbleweeds blowing in the aisles of churches; surely it's only a matter of time before Christianity, losing the last shreds of it's believability in a more enlightened age, curls up it's toes and dies. Not a moment too soon.

Edited May 26, 2012 by robtherake

[Now there's a right un.]

Please: don't get me started. If god exists - and I'm not proposing for one cotton-picking minute that he/it does - and is ineffable, how can a race of evolved monkeys propose to understand his/its intentions?

 

Christianity isn't even original: the ten commandments were borrowed from a much earlier religion.

The bible has been translated and mistranslated in and out of so many languages by scholars of questionable ability that it's original form was lost a long time ago.

Parts were added and removed to pacify pagans brought into the fold who already held their own unshakeable beliefs (Christmas is actually a pagan festival which involved a fortnight of naked drunkenness and feasting to celebrate the turning of the year - little wonder that the previous owners were reluctant to give it up) It's present form (sans Christus) is much closer to the ideals of it's originators than the god-bothering version. Whilst we're on the subject; if Jesus was such an influential chappy, with thousands of followers, why is there no reference to him by the chroniclers of the time? The first scholarly reference (so I'm led to believe) was several decades after his death! Work that one out. He's a fabricated hero dreamed up to ensure that Christianity won the religious popularity contest, that's what. It's even been worked out that his birth was much more likely to have been around April, which removes the last vestiges of the story's credibility, doesn't it.

His so-called virgin birth? It just so happens that the Hebrew word for Mary, meaning "a woman of marriageable age", was mistranslated by some terminally bored cleric as virgin. About as accurate as the rest of the book, then.

 

The very idea that people devote their whole lives to the belief of this manipulative claptrap boggles the mind. That their spiritual leaders can then vilify whole groups of people based on what they purport to be it's meaning... words fail me.

 

If we ever needed any evidence of the damage religion can do - and there's no question of that - the story which generated this thread is a prime example.

 

There are already tumbleweeds blowing in the aisles of churches; surely it's only a matter of time before Christianity, losing the last shreds of it's believability in a more enlightened age, curls up it's toes and dies. Not a moment too soon.

 

 

 

I agree with all of your post.

 

However, if religion is given correctly and used correctly it should bring peace and social connection. The Budhist religion is one example of peace and harmony. Kind of like a social club does for senior citizens.

It is perhaps nice to believe that once the lights go out we go on. Some people need that.

The powerful, however, use religion to isolate and create mistrust between peoples.

 

I am an Athiest but if a man or woman wants religion in their lives I say good luck to them insofar that it brings peace.

I would not call them stupid nor condemn them for it.

As I said my wife is RC.

 

I enjoy reading the Bible too believe it or not and tell my children to gather all information from all sides if they ask me about religion as they are taught RE at school. I tell my children to not just accept someones word but to work it out for themselves.

[robtherake]

I agree with all of your post.

 

However, if religion is given correctly and used correctly it should bring peace and social connection. The Budhist religion is one example of peace and harmony. Kind of like a social club does for senior citizens.

It is perhaps nice to believe that once the lights go out we go on. Some people need that.

The powerful, however, use religion to isolate and create mistrust between peoples.

 

I am an Athiest but if a man or woman wants religion in their lives I say good luck to them insofar that it brings peace.

I would not call them stupid nor condemn them for it.

As I said my wife is RC.

 

I enjoy reading the Bible too believe it or not and tell my children to gather all information from all sides if they ask me about religion as they are taught RE at school. I tell my children to not just accept someones word but to work it out for themselves.

 

You're absolutely right, of course. The inherent problem is the indoctrination and subsequent control of the ignorant. How many people would have come to believe in the existence of god all by themselves without any form of prompting: precious few, I would imagine.

 

I can see the social, and indeed personal benefits of a benign and contemplative religion, and have no truck with that. Sadly though, religion is in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, and I can't for one minute see their leaders altering their stance simply to improve popularity. No one likes to admit they're wrong, particularly if it might result in a dilution of the power that they have come to believe is their god-given right. As they say: absolute power corrupts absolutely.

[Now there's a right un.]

You're absolutely right, of course. The inherent problem is the indoctrination and subsequent control of the ignorant. How many people would have come to believe in the existence of god all by themselves without any form of prompting: precious few, I would imagine.

 

I can see the social, and indeed personal benefits of a benign and contemplative religion, and have no truck with that. Sadly though, religion is in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, and I can't for one minute see their leaders altering their stance simply to improve popularity. No one likes to admit they're wrong, particularly if it might result in a dilution of the power that they have come to believe is their god-given right. As they say: absolute power corrupts absolutely.

 

 

 

Agree again.

 

However, religion was the basis for all Laws.

 

Mind you stand up in a court of law today and tell the Judge God told you to do it and you'll likely as not end up being sectioned as insane.

 

Religion has perhaps now fulfilled its purpose and only those who are frightened of losing status, Monarchs, Mp's, Pope, Priests, Vicars etc etc... as example, fear the next step.

 

When you look at the main 3 religions of the planet...they all support the theory of one God, they all mention in their texts the very same people as the other, they almost all share certain beliefs and customs.

Abraham features in all and the Koran even mentions Jesus....so wtf are we all killing each other for??

At some point in their past they were all untied.

 

No, No I am no blasphemer....

 

 

Monty Python "The Life Of Brian" explains it all very well I think.

[robtherake]

Religion has perhaps now fulfilled its purpose and only those who are frightened of losing status, Monarchs, Mp's, Pope, Priests, Vicars etc etc... as example, fear the next step.

 

You've put your finger on what (for me, at least) is the whole crux of the matter.