Pope: condoms can be justified in some cases

[aduidarnenye]

I just finished reading Sam Harris' book 'The End of Faith'. Pretty interesting book, and he rips into pretty much every religion on the planet and explains why religions are idiotic and why people who follow them are delusional. I would highly recommend it.

[Moosey]

To be honest, while I doubt the helpfulness of any Abrahamic religion, I think Catholicism is the only real one to cause significant problems... followed by Hebrew, followed by Islam, then others.

Nuts are present in any of those religions... but Christianity always seems to be the champion of FUCKYOU that screws everything up. No wonder people in America like it so much. Christianity is such an "American" religion.

Don't be mistaken, Catholicism is not Christianity(read up on how Constantine Christianized the pagan religions of Rome). They may claim to worship God and believe in Jesus, but they are also the same ones who killed him. Not to mention they make up a shit ton of rules (Hi pope!) and extra-biblical literature. Christians did NOT have anything to do with the crusades. Catholics did.

[Ashmada]

Ratzinger is a glorified (literally) troll. Nothing more, nothing less. But it's a troll that plays the long game, so, sometimes, he has to try to appease public opinion.
Obviously, this is BS but there are a bunch of people waiting, mouth eagerly open to swallow crap like this, as demonstrated by the media response.

I mean, if you're going to be a member of something, then own it. BE a Catholic. Love the Pope and worship the Pope and follow his every command because hey, he was appointed by ma-err.. God!

Don't underestimate the power of tradition. My family is "catholic"... I could count the believers on one hand, and the number of sunday church-goers hover around 0, but you bet your ass that whenever there's a wedding, we go to the church and join in the pretense. For the sake of pleasing the older generation.
It's tradition.

I went through the early rites of catholicism, despite vehement protests, because my parents had the convincing arguments of "do it for your grandparents!", "you'll get a bunch of toys out of it!" and "we decided you'd do it, kicking and screaming if you want, but you'll do it!"
There is nothing more sacred in catholicism than the forceful recruitment of children, save for their molestation of course.


Edit:

Don't be mistaken, Catholicism is not Christianity(read up on how Constantine Christianized the pagan religions of Rome). They may claim to worship God and believe in Jesus, but they are also the same ones who killed him. Not to mention they make up a shit ton of rules (Hi pope!) and extra-biblical literature. Christians did NOT have anything to do with the crusades. Catholics did.

This guy fo cereal?

[kuronosan]

Don't be mistaken, Catholicism is not Christianity(read up on how Constantine Christianized the pagan religions of Rome). They may claim to worship God and believe in Jesus, but they are also the same ones who killed him. Not to mention they make up a shit ton of rules (Hi pope!) and extra-biblical literature. Christians did NOT have anything to do with the crusades. Catholics did.

Wat

Christian - one who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ

Paul founded the Christian faith, which evolved into the Catholic church and sparked the separation into Protestant and Catholic.

Not to mention this website and several others:

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1k.html

Don't think that just because Catholics and Protestants are separated by belief doesn't make them Christians. This is one of the fundamental problems with Christianity - "Oh they're not really Christians, they're [Mormons, Catholics, Lutherans, Episcopelians, Jews, Heathens].

They are all Christian, for they all follow the teachings of Christ, regardless of how stringent or apathetic. The only reason Protestantism grew was because of reformers such as Martin Luther who really didn't care for how the Popes of that age ran the churches (which they were horridly drunk with power, and the seat of Pope is like it is today - a popularity contest and a political beacon). Hell, even Paul, the first Pope, was crucified upside down by assholes who wanted in on the papacy.

Please don't attempt to marginalize the line between "Protestant Christian" and "Catholic Christian" because the only difference is one has a hypocrite for a leader and the other has people leading hypocrites.

And by the way, the Jews killed Jesus along with the Romans. The Romans didn't adopt Christianity as a faith until after Jesus was executed. Learn 2 History.

[Moosey]

Paul was NOT a pope, there is no such thing as a pope in the bible lol(read: Pontifex Maximus). It's a created position by the roman emperor Constantine. Catholics don't really follow the bible as much as they claim to, and worship mary, saints, etc.. because it is a Christianization of pagan beliefs from the roman empire. Jesus Christ founded the Christian faith, Paul and many others just perpetuated the truth. There is no hierarchy or true governing system in Christianity as far as humans go, the only one we have to answer to is God. Protestantism is the only true form of Christianity because they actually follow the bible, and not some guy in a funny hat and a dress(inb4 "wizard robe and hat") that says you have to kiss his ring or you don't go to heaven.

Mormons are delusional and self-serving, they think God was once a man(Adam even had his turn as God), and expect to have a harem of wives in the afterlife(Hi Islam). Jews obviously aren't Christians, but if you really want to get down to the basics, Christianity is essentially a sect of Judaism.

Do some more in-depth research instead of a 5 second google before trying to argue about facts if you care that much.

[kuronosan]

Paul was NOT a pope, there is no such thing as a pope in the bible lol(read: Pontifex Maximus). It's a created position by the roman emperor Constantine. Catholics don't really follow the bible as much as they claim to, and worship mary, saints, etc.. because it is a Christianization of pagan beliefs from the roman empire. Jesus Christ founded the Christian faith, Paul and many others just perpetuated the truth. There is no hierarchy or true governing system in Christianity as far as humans go, the only one we have to answer to is God. Protestantism is the only true form of Christianity because they actually follow the bible, and not some guy in a funny hat and a dress(inb4 "wizard robe and hat") that says you have to kiss his ring or you don't go to heaven.

Mormons are delusional and self-serving, they think God was once a man(Adam even had his turn as God), and expect to have a harem of wives in the afterlife(Hi Islam). Jews obviously aren't Christians, but if you really want to get down to the basics, Christianity is essentially a sect of Judaism.

Do some more in-depth research instead of a 5 second google before trying to argue about facts if you care that much.

This shit was taught to me in school, not google. Any fucking person who has been to bible school or parochial education would know Christianity is a subsect of Judaism.

You want to talk about ridiculous? How about Christians actually believing Jesus turned water into wine or Noah's ark, or believing that Jesus literally fed thousands of people with a few loaves of bread and a fish? How about the belief that homosexuals are evil people that must be cleansed or that Muslims are our sworn enemies? How about believing that God actually rained hellfire and brimstone on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and that Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of ash? Belief that Protestantism is the true Christianity is just as ignorant as all of that combined.

Get the fuck out of here with your ignorant rhetoric.

Paul was not a pope

You know what I meant. Leave your semantics at the door and bring something more substantial than biased belief.

[Moosey]

Hell, even Paul, the first Pope, was crucified upside down by assholes who wanted in on the papacy.

And by the way, the Jews killed Jesus along with the Romans. The Romans didn't adopt Christianity as a faith until after Jesus was executed. Learn 2 History.

I think you meant Peter who, by the way, was not a pope either. You're right, the Romans didn't "adopt" Christianity until after Jesus was executed. They killed Christians for about 280 years until Constantine realized they weren't going away(but becoming more plentiful), and his empire was falling apart, so he "adopted"(read: Christianized) the Roman Empire. It was basically a religious all-you-can-eat buffet. Take a little bit from here, a little from there, oooh that looks tasty too, might as well take it. That is the birth of the Catholic Church.

Your parochial(catholic right?) school was wrong.

[archibaldcrane]

So...your argument is basically that there were no Christians until Martin Luther, since Catholics aren't Christian?

Not even sure why I'm dignifying this...but you're super wrong about Catholics not following the teachings of Jesus Christ (more or less).

People who think that Catholics (especially in America) cling to the Pope's every word, or "worship" the Virgin Mary, crack me right the fuck up.

[Moosey]

No, there were Christians long before the Catholics came about, they just got mixed up with them when it became "cool" to be a Christian in the Roman Empire. All Martin Luther did was some "house cleaning". If you think there aren't people who cling to the pope's every word or worship mary(or any other "saint" for that matter), i'm not sure you're living in the same country as I am.

[archibaldcrane]

Catholics follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Therefore they are Christian.

Any questions?

I'm an atheist but went to Catholic Mass and Sunday school for probably 8 years when I was a kid. The virgin Mary was never discussed as someone to worship - she was a regular person who God "tabbed" for a higher purpose. The pope was never discussed in my memory.

Ever.

[quannum]

please keep posting in this thread Moosey. don't fall for their games and give up.