How do Catholics hold their heads up?

[RATTER15]

I think all Catholics should be totally ashamed of their beliefs and their church, and the Pope should be executed by a good traditional stoning in public, OK, not executed, that would put us on a level with him and his beliefs, most of us aren't that barbaric!!


Listen to the whole debate, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL5WVecNdhk ive pasted this link to Stephen Fry's part as he puts his point across so well

[ummmm]

Thanks :-(

[Mosaic]

Glad you shared that Ratter.
While you're about it, why stop there? There's eastern Orthodoxy and protestantism to have a good go at, then don't forget Islam, those pesky Jews, the hilarious Hundus and badass buddhists. Go for it my friend. Get it all off in one go.

[RATTER15]

Mosaic, I'm an Atheist, so I think they are all a load of hypocrites but I just want to share a little bit of truth about Catholics, I have condemned all religious beliefs on here many times!!

[Booldawg]

thats odd. this thread has just jogged my memory. I had a dream last night I had to enter a catholic church and had to 'cross' myself but wasnt sure if I got it right.

[karenmac60]

Thanks for that link Ratter - and very well said by Stephen Fry!

[naomi24]

Thanks for that Ratter. It's a speech I could have written myself.

There are several other videos there that I'm sure are worth watching too.

[RATTER15]

Naomi, That's exactly what I thought Naomi but I could never have written and delivered it as well as Stephen Fry.

[Ric.ror]

Well guess what - we aren't!!!!!

[naomi24]

He's an incredibly talented speaker, Ratter, there's no doubt about that. I'm looking forward to watching some of the other videos there too.

I'm sorry, I didn't answer your question. I can't understand how any Catholic can listen to that speech and disagree with what he's saying. But then as he said, Ann Widdecombe complained because he'd mentioned the suffering caused by the Church's ruling on the use of condoms, so clearly, she like the rest of the faithful of all religions prefer to ignore the more unsavoury aspects. I suppose it sounds a little harsh, but yes, I agree with you. I think the Catholics (amongst others) should be ashamed.

[andy-hughes]

naomi24 - a cornerstone, if not the entire foundation of the Catholic faith is guilt.

Catholics are taught from birth that guilt is their lot in life - and that is why they are able to wring their hands at the appaling behaviour of their priests - but not insist that anything is done about it.

I have endured direct experience of just how evil the Catholic Church can be - without going into detail, it involved a member of my family exposing assault on primary children (physical, not sexual) and after a protracted battle, the woman was moved to another school less than three miles away, and my family member lost her career, and her health was broken. Did the Church wish her well and thank her for years of service? No, there was defeaning silence.

The hypocracy with which the clergy rule the fiathful, and each other is entrenched deeply, and perpetuates, simply because in order to be in any position to try and do anything to change matters, you have already had to prove that you agree with things as they are.

I take comfort that, not in my lifetime, but in a few generations, there will be no priests and nuns, no bishops, and no Pope - the Catholic Church's wilful refusal to live in the real world will see its slow decline and death, and Amen to that.

[RATTER15]

Well said Andy and thanks for your contribution.

[johntywino]

Amen to all that ! I'm an unbeliever and hate the lot of them !.

[andy-hughes]

Thanks RATTER15.

I think the sad part about it is, so many good catholics grow up with their faith as children, and when the reach adulthood, the notion that their clergy are anything but good and well-meaning people is very hard to accept - even when the evidence is all around them.

To be fair, there are plenty of wonderful rpeists and nuns who live as their faith dictates, and must know deep down that the luxury and arcane practises which govern their authorities are an obscenity in a world of poverty and disease.

By happy coincidence, the refusal of the hierarchy to allow priests to marry - although it does allow married men to become priests (???) is seeing a steady decline in new priests willing to live that arcane and unatrual lifestyle, and that popmosity and lack of interaction with the real world will slowly strangle the dreadful structures of the clergy, but hopefully leave the faith to live on in another form.

[sandyRoe]

Despite the paedophile priests, the Church provides a good guide to living a life that isn't materialistic, self-indulgent, or harmful to others. The world would be a better place if more were to follow its teachings.
I have no problem holding my head high.

[RATTER15]

SandyRoe, if people forgot about religion and relied on a decent set of morals (like I and many others do) the world would be a far better place!! I don't need a religion to tell me right from wrong.

[andy-hughes]

Nor should you sandyRoe, but you surely cannot reconcile the obscentiy of riches in the Vatican City when compared with the poverty and deprivation in the world that the Church purports to address?

It is not the 'grass roots' clergy or faithful that cause an issue, it is the upper echelons who live a life of unrivaled material privelige and moral isolation that makes them singularly unsuited to the task of leading people to God.

[piggynose]

re: stephen fry, what a sad man he is

[RATTER15]

Oh and you dont think the catholics are materialistic?? you need to look at some of their churches, I have seen the homes of some of these priests, how many shopping mals do they now own, how come they have such a vast wealth!!!

Poor Catholics!!! ive yet to see a poor priest!!

[piggynose]

to stand there and just attack a religion which has done a lot of good. no religion is perfect. the ammount of people i´ve met or know of who´ve insisted on taking their kids to a cathlothic school due to its moral fibre, giving kids a good start.
why is it that all the really, and i mean really nice people i know are all catholic? is it a coincidence? and to taint them with child abuse!!! what was it oh yes those without sin cast the 1st stone. yes it was from the bible. but it has some logic.