I love Pope Rat. I really do. He's doing more to destroy the Catholic Church than a legion of atheists parked out in front of St. Peter's will for twenty years, I kid you not.
It appears that Pope Rat is asserting the primacy of Catholic churches. This is so special and dear that I must quote:
Pope Benedict XVI reasserted the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says other Christian communities are either defective or not true churches and Catholicism provides the only true path to salvation.
He just set back reconciliation between Catholicism and other Christian demonimations fifty years! All other Christian churches are either defective or not true churches. Classic! I couldn't do this kind of damage to Catholicism my whole life!
Here's some more:
"Christ 'established here on earth' only one church," said the document. The other communities "cannot be called 'churches' in the proper sense" because they do not have apostolic succession - the ability to trace their bishops back to Christ's original apostles, it said.
Isn't that great? I think it's great. I love Pope Rat.
9 comments:
Oh man. His nuttery begins to approach the level of Bush's ability to do dumb stuff without realizing or caring (few can guess which) the consequences it'll bring.
The difference here, of course, is that I welcome the results of those consequences. I wonder if I should tell Mom that Jason and Melissa figure she's wasting her time and going to hell anyway?
You should at least think about it. One of the nasty dirty secrets that these Christian denominations are hiding from each other is the contempt they possess for each other.
So, yeah, I think it's pretty important for your mother to know that her son and his wife think that her church is either "defective" or "not real". Indeed, I think more than that -- I think the consequences of that should also be discussed. In Catholic terms, if there is no apostolic succession, then the people in charge of those churches aren't priests in the eyes of their god -- therefore, their sacrements aren't real and thus those Protestants who are going to those defective churches with those not-priests are condemned to Hell.
Likewise, I think that the truth that most Protestant denominations consider Catholics pagans that worship the Pope and saints and that most Protestants believe that Catholics will ALSO go to Hell.
Tho', y'know, I could also understand you going that it isn't your business, hehe. I might save it for when they're giving you shit about not being religious. ;)
My current plan is to save it up for when they're hassling me about not being religious, yeah.
'Christ 'established here on earth' only one church," said the document. The other communities "cannot be called 'churches' in the proper sense" because they do not have apostolic succession - the ability to trace their bishops back to Christ's original apostles, it said.'
This explains the reason perfectly. It's a simple point of history. Unless you are a member of the community of apostles, you aren't a priest. Or is this another point you try not to understand, so as to belittle the beliefs of Catholics?
Haven't you got better things to do than hate us Catholics?
Yes, it is a point of history, but history is often ridiculous.
As I said, I'm glad that Rat is doing this. He's showing the Catholic contempt and hypocrisy towards other religions, helping to break the concept of Christian unity, which helps my atheist cause immensely. He is a powerful ally, though unwittingly.
And, well, I like doing this.
The first time I heard his name, Ratzinger, I thought "I wonder if he actually zings rats?"
Seriously, it may be that religion has a kind of self-destruct mechanism built into it. Given how incoherent and befuddled the doctrines are, a variety of interpretations is inevitable, which means that sectarian splits are inevitable. But of course each group must believe that its own dogmas are correct and those of all the other groups are wrong. That's part of what believing in a religion means. Think: if He Who Zings Rats had announced that all the other churches' doctrines and ceremonies were just as valid as Catholic ones, meaning that the Catholic Church had no unique status as the one true church -- that's what would have been bizarre and unprecedented.
In the past, this feature of religion led to things like the Thirty Years War. Today, at least, it means that our enemies are divided against themselves; and at best, it allows an opening for rationality. If Catholicism and Protestantism both claim to be Christian but are so different, then one of them must be false. But as Carl Sagan said, if one of them is false, why not both?
Infidel,
Yeah, I suspect that in the modern world that religions are inherently self-destructive. Recently I was talking with a friend about the "biggest" religion in the world being Christianity and part of what we talked about is how the numbers get counted. So, in Denmark -- where my friend is from -- you have to fill out some paperwork not to be considered a Lutheran. The automatic assumption is that Danes are Lutheran! Most Danes aren't religious at all, but few bother to fill out the paperwork to have their status as Lutheran rescinded. And in France, two-fifths of Catholics do not believe in god! Which I found utterly amazing, but it makes some sense -- they are cultural Catholics in the way that many Jewish people I know are cultural Jews even tho' they like ham and cheese pizzas as much as I do and never go to synagogue on Sabbath.
My point here being that a lot of what constitutes the "Christian world" really isn't. That Christianity, itself, is destroying itself or being destroyed by "modernism" or whatever you want to call it. Religion just doesn't apply to most people's lives so it's being swept aside . . . slowly. And He Who Zings Rats is just part of the process of demonstrating the absurdity of religion in the modern world, which is increasingly sick and tired of religious sectarian divisions.
About 20 years ago I read about a survey of religious belief in West Germany which said that 41% of West Germans self-identified as Protestant and 44% as Catholic. But it also said that only 51% believed in the existence of God. That is, at least 34% of West Germans claim to be Christian (of one or another type) but don't believe in God. Statistics about membership in religious groups are all but meaningless if they don't get into the nuts and bolts of what people actually believe.
Even in the United States, there may be far more unbelievers than most people think.
An ultra-conservative Catholic Pope...*shudder* how unappealing.
I can see where his brand of fundamental religious "politics" might send nuts like ingsoc into orgasmic throes, I don't see that it's going to attract any intelligent new members to the church, though.
But, I guess that's the point of a Conservative Catholic [sic]'movement', huh? Getting back to the "Good Ole Days" of Catholicism...
I think you guys are right about religions being self-destructive. By their nature they can only 'move' within the boxes built for them.(or between the confines of a certain book) Sooner or later, they becomes outmoded & show themselves as ridiculous.
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