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#Post#: 33017--------------------------------------------------
Re: Religion...
By: Mac Date: January 20, 2015, 12:23 pm
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While at first glance many people think his statement is 'about
time'. But read deeper and at it's core, it's still f*cked up
thinking.
[glow=red,2,300]Pope says Catholics don't have to breed 'like
rabbits'[/glow]
[quote]Pope Francis is firmly upholding church teaching banning
contraception, but said Monday that Catholics don't have to
breed "like rabbits" and should instead practice "responsible
parenting."
Speaking to reporters en route home from the Philippines,
Francis said there are plenty of church-approved ways to
regulate births. But he said most importantly, no outside
institution should impose its views on regulating family size,
blasting what he called the "ideological colonization" of the
developing world.
African bishops, in particular, have long complained about how
progressive, Western ideas about birth control and gay rights
are increasingly being imposed on the developing world by
groups, institutions or individual nations, often as a condition
for development aid.
St. Peter's Basilica is seen behind a hand of a demonstrator
holding a condom, on the edge of the Vatican's St. Peter's
Square, in Rome, March 23, 2009. (AP / Alessandra Tarantino)
"Every people deserves to conserve its identity without being
ideologically colonized," Francis said.
The pope's comments, taken together with his defence of the
Catholic Church's ban on artificial contraception during the
trip, signal that he is increasingly showing his more
conservative bent, which has largely been ignored by public
opinion or obscured by a media narrative that has tended to
highlight his populist persona.
On the trip, Francis gave his strongest defence yet of the 1968
encyclical Humanae Vitae, which enshrined the church's
opposition to artificial birth control. He warned against
"insidious attacks" against the family -- a reference to gay
marriage proposals -- echoing language often used by
overwhelmingly conservative U.S. bishops. And he insisted that
"openness to life is a condition of the sacrament of matrimony."
At the same time, however, he said it's not true that to be a
good Catholic "you have to be like rabbits." On the contrary, he
said "responsible parenthood" requires that couples regulate the
births of their children, as church teaching allows. He cited
the case of a woman he met who was pregnant with her eighth
child after seven Cesarean sections.
"That is an irresponsibility!" he said. The woman might argue
that she should trust in God. "But God gives you methods to be
responsible," he said.
He said there are many "licit" ways of regulating births that
are approved by the church, an apparent reference to the Natural
Family Planning method of monitoring a woman's cycle to avoid
intercourse when she is ovulating.
During the Vatican's recent meeting on the family, African
bishops denounced how aid groups and lending institutions often
condition their assistance on a country's compliance with their
ideals: allowing health care workers to distribute condoms, or
withdrawing assistance if legislation discriminating against
gays is passed.
"When imposed conditions come from imperial colonizers, they
search to make people lose their own identity and make a
sameness," he said. "This is ideological colonization."[/quote]
#Post#: 33458--------------------------------------------------
Re: Religion...
By: Mac Date: February 12, 2015, 11:46 am
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and then we have this counter-comment. I was listening to the
Pope on occasion, but this is a first where I completely
disagree. I don't understand this view. Being a parent is not
for everybody. In fact some people should never have children.
[glow=red,2,300]Pope Francis: Not having children is
selfish[/glow]
Children bring joy to society and not just their parents, the
Pope says, as he criticises the "selfish" choice to not have
children
[quote] Pope Francis has criticised married couples who decide
not to have children as “selfish”.
Extolling the virtues of family life, he said children brought
joy not just to their parents but to the whole of society.
He said it was important to have children in order to ensure a
healthy society – three weeks after telling Catholics that they
should not feel obliged to “breed like rabbits”.
A society which viewed children as “a weight, a risk” would soon
turn into a “depressed” society.
“The choice to not have children is selfish. Life rejuvenates
and acquires energy when it multiplies: it is enriched, not
impoverished,” the 78-year-old Latin American pontiff said
during his general audience at the Vatican on Wednesday.
Related Articles
Children were a “gift” and vital for preserving hope in society.
More...
HTML http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/the-pope/11408974/Pope-Francis-Not-having-children-is-selfish.html[/quote]
#Post#: 34187--------------------------------------------------
Re: Religion...
By: Mac Date: March 31, 2015, 12:13 pm
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I think at the core of my drifting from Religious communities is
because of the head scratching thinking they teach. I don't go
into things blind much more. I don't know how followers embrace
certain teachings. This just confuses and it's just the tip of
the iceberg of what I think religious communities do.
[glow=red,2,300]Christians React To Victoria Osteen's
Controversial Sermon[/glow]
[quote]Lakewood Church co-pastor Victoria Osteen received
backlash from the Christian community after video footage of an
August sermon surfaced showing Osteen encouraging congregants to
"do good for your own self."
Video discussion
HTML http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/highlight/christians-react-to-victoria-osteens-controversial-sermon/540e11b5fe3444535b0001dc?cps=gravity_3831_-485892314550321780[/quote]
#Post#: 34202--------------------------------------------------
Re: Religion...
By: Mac Date: April 2, 2015, 11:22 am
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I guess I don't understand the sudden interest in creating these
Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) bills. Who is being
oppressed?
I like this guys theological points....
[glow=red,2,300]Dear Indiana: Christian Love Embraces Those on
the Margins of Society[/glow]
[quote]Rev. Dr. Serene Jones is President of Union Theological
Seminary in the City of New York.
Religious freedom was never meant to override the inherent
dignity of human beings
In the current debate over Indiana’s Religious Freedom
Restoration Act (RFRA), conservative Christians would have
America believe that they stand with a united and monolithic
block of the faithful. That all of those committed to following
a God who suffered on the cross in the ultimate act of love for
humanity are somehow religiously required to discriminate
against their fellow human beings because of who it is they
love.
As a Christian minister, I take great joy in seeing conversion:
conversion to faith in Christ, conversion to deeper
discipleship. This week we have seen a conversion among many
Americans around the dignity and worth of our LGBTQ brothers and
sisters.
As someone who has been deeply transformed by the Gospel, my
conscience and my faith demands that I raise my voice in
opposition to the oppression and discrimination allowed by
Indiana’s original law. I am not alone in this. Polling shows
that even among white evangelical Protestants — the most
politically conservative Christian group on this issue — only a
quarter believe that businesses ought to be able to refuse
service to gay and lesbian people.
Religious freedom is a core American value, one that is
cherished by the vast majority of Americans across all religious
affiliations. This freedom has allowed Americans to practice the
religion of their choice by freely gathering in worshipping
communities, and to live out their deeply held beliefs without
fear of oppression or discrimination.
These very convictions can and should extend into the way that
people of faith engage in the marketplace and in public life.
Certainly, Jesus’s commands to welcome the stranger and to care
for the “least of these” guide me in the personal, professional,
and even political decisions that I make.
However, when it comes to the society that we share — be it
government services like libraries and schools or businesses
that are open to the public— there is no place for
discrimination. This is an issue of fundamental fairness — a
deeply religious and spiritual value. As laid out in our
Constitution, religious freedom was never meant to override the
inherent dignity of human beings. RFRAs that don’t protect the
rights of LGBTQ people have no place in America.
In too many parts of America, being gay is a heavy burden to
bear. While marriage equality is sweeping across America, and
minds are being changed everyday, prejudice toward gay and
lesbian people throughout American history has left a deep scar
emotionally, and sometimes physically as well.
Forty percent of homeless youth are LGBTQ. Gay teens are four
times as likely to attempt suicide. The statistics (and the
stories behind the statistics) are nothing short of tragic.
What the Indiana law and laws like it say to our precious LGBTQ
brothers and sisters throughout the nation is that your dignity
and the dignity of your relationships are still up for debate in
this country.
As a Christian, I follow the example of a God who constantly
placed himself with those who are on the margin, whose disciples
were made up of the most reviled and marginalized people of his
day. This experience of marginalization exposes our sinful
theological shortcomings, specifically that we don’t treat
everyone who bears the image of God equally.
While the legalistic Pharisees sat back and judged all those who
did not conform to their understanding of the letter of the law,
Jesus cast a vision of God’s law that includes everyone. “Love
God and love your neighbor.”
Our gay neighbors are suffering. Christian love embraces those
on the margins of society, and all of those who suffer.
Moreover, Christian love is for each and every one of God’s
children.
May we have a daily conversion that will bring us ever closer to
a Christian vision of justice, freedom, and equality.[/quote]
#Post#: 34562--------------------------------------------------
Re: Religion...
By: Mac Date: May 12, 2015, 12:17 pm
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I fit squarely in this latest survey. I've pretty much dropped
my church and my religion, but remain Christian with a strong
faith in God. This discussion about politics hits home.
[glow=red,2,300]U.S. has become notably less Christian, major
study finds[/glow]
[quote][size=36pt]The U.S. has become significantly less
Christian in the last eight years as the share of American
adults who espouse no systematic religious belief increased
sharply, a major new study found.
For what is likely first time in U.S. history – certainly the
first since the early days of the country – the actual number of
American Christians has declined. Christianity, however,
remains by far the nation’s dominant religious tradition,
according to the new report by the nonpartisan Pew Research
Center.
Rising partisanship among voters is 'nationalizing' local
politics
The rapid increase in the number of adults without ties to
traditional religious institutions has strong implications for
other social institutions and for politics.
Whether a person attends religious services regularly is among
the strongest predictors of how he or she will vote, with
traditional religion strongly tied to the Republican Party, at
least among white Americans.
The decline in traditional religious belief adds to the
demographic challenges facing the GOP, which already faces
difficulties because of its reliance on white voters in a
country that has grown more racially diverse.
lRelated 2016 election pits desire for change against a
demographic shift
The interaction between religion and politics may work both
ways. Some scholars believe that close ties between traditional
religion and conservatism, particularly on issues such as
same-sex marriage, have led many younger Americans to cut their
ties with organized religion.
Almost 1 in 5 American adults were raised in a religious
tradition but are now unaffiliated, the study found. By
contrast, only 4% have moved in the other direction.
Because the U.S. Census does not ask questions about religion,
the massive religion surveys by the Pew Research Center have
become a chief source of information on the U.S. religious
landscape.
The current survey questioned 35,071 U.S. adults last summer.
Its huge size allows detailed analysis of even fairly small
religious groups. The margin of error for the full sample is
plus or minus six-tenths of a percentage point.
The U.S. still remains far more religious than most other
economically advanced countries. But the significant increase in
the share of Americans who do not follow a traditional religious
belief mirrors trends in Europe and elsewhere.
Just short of 1 in 4 Americans now describe themselves as being
agnostic, atheist or simply “nothing in particular,” up from
roughly 1 in 6 in 2007, according to the new study. The ranks of
the “nones,” as the study labels them, have grown in large part
from people abandoning the religion in which they were raised.
By contrast, Christian ranks have eroded. Roughly 173 million
adult Americans identify as Christian, just under 71% of the
U.S. population. That’s down from 178 million, or 78% of the
U.S., in 2007. The total U.S. adult population grew by about 8%
during that eight-year period.
Protestants, who once dominated the U.S. population, no longer
form a majority, the study found. About 47% of the U.S.
population identifies with some Protestant denomination, down
from just over half in 2007.
The decline has been uneven, with mainline denominations, such
as Methodists and Presbyterians, shrinking more quickly than
evangelical churches.
Slightly fewer than 1 in 6 adult Americans identify with the
mainline Protestant churches. Evangelicals, by contrast, make up
about one-quarter of the adult U.S. population. They now form a
majority among those who identify as Christian.
Another 7% of American adults identify with historically black
Protestant churches, a share that has remained relatively
stable.
Catholics, about 1 in 5 Americans, have also seen some decline
in numbers since 2007, the study found, although some other
studies have found a more recent uptick. Almost 13% of American
adults are former Catholics – the largest single group of people
who have left a faith in which they were raised.
Among non-Christian faiths, Judaism remains the largest in the
U.S., although only about 2% of the U.S. population identifies
as Jewish. The number is up very slightly from what the survey
found in 2007.
Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism each have less than 1% of the U.S.
population, although the Muslim and Hindu population have both
grown rapidly, reflecting immigration from Asia.[/size][/quote]
#Post#: 35296--------------------------------------------------
Re: Religion...
By: Chiprocks1 Date: August 19, 2015, 8:48 am
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[center]Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Televangelists
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y1xJAVZxXg&index=11&list=PLp2e7UfInEgmB-5r4rtQOEsq-H-mNmQhk
[/center]
John Oliver's scathing indictment about those that would fleece
desperate people in the name of God is spot-on and damn funny
when he turns it around on Robert Tilton. I remember the first
time seeing Tilton on TV when I was just a kid and thinking that
this idiot couldn't be real. Even I knew back then that this guy
was a straight-up con man. It baffles me that anyone back then
or even now, would ever believe this guy or any other
Televangelist on TV that ask for thousands of dollars at a time.
Stay till the end of the clip as John starts his own legal
"church", which reminded me of how Stephen Colbert got away with
starting a Superpac.
#Post#: 35303--------------------------------------------------
Re: Religion...
By: Mac Date: August 19, 2015, 11:32 am
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Like you, I have never understood how people would follow such
an obvious scam as televangelists. WTF people. They have to be
super weak or have a self-esteem issues to buy into some pretty
unbelievable stuff.
This John Oliver bit was damn straight while being funny as
hell. But you know what, those who buy into televangelism would
never see the light of day of John Oliver or others.
#Post#: 35574--------------------------------------------------
Re: Religion...
By: Mac Date: September 15, 2015, 12:17 pm
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[glow=red,2,300]Stephen Colbert Gets All Up In Your Faith[/glow]
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLWYXCOf4Ac
#Post#: 35669--------------------------------------------------
Re: Religion...
By: Chiprocks1 Date: September 23, 2015, 12:17 pm
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I'm not Catholic, but even I wanted to see the Pope Parade this
morning. I even tuned in to watch his speech at the White House.
#Post#: 35671--------------------------------------------------
Re: Religion...
By: Mac Date: September 23, 2015, 3:07 pm
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I do enjoy hearing from this Pope... yet I still see him just as
another ordinary man.
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