Conservatives Pray for a Pope that Does Not Doubt


While the link is by a Catholic who fancies himself as an intellectual, it's sentiments are repeated every Sunday in countless sermons in Protestant churches. The message is, "We cannot have a Christain faith, Catholic or Protestant with naysayers, doubters or skeptics." In other words, the faith cannot survive questions raised by critical thinking.

One thing working against a religion, any fundamentalist version of any religion, is, in my opinion, the cell phone. About 20 years ago my wife's graduate student arranged a visit with world leader, Mohamed Eunos, in his office. He envisioned cell phones would swamp the world and bring a level of literacy never before experienced. At the time cell phones were expensive and there was not coverage like we have today. I think we could say Eunos' prediction was correct. Cell phones bring not only learning and reading to more people they bring information by video. Isolating people from information, as some religious leaders demand, will no longer work.

The current Pope, I believe, understands this at least to some extent. It's taken a while for me to grasp that the "institution of the church" is more important to the Pople and lots of clergy than the truth. Perhaps from the Pope's perspective, there are beliefs held by the faithful that are not true that can be separated into those which threaten the church because they are not acceptable and those which have to be held onto because without them the faithful will leave. For example, shunning divorced and remarried Catholics is something many in the church support enthusiastically but the view is so whacko it threatens the "institution" and had to be sidelined. But the existence of a "Satan" is equally whacko, or more so, but is held so universally across the denomination and outside of it the "institution" is better off by preaching it exists. 

This Pope, then, is strategic about some issues and sees doubt about the benefits of some to the "institution." Those who pray the next Pope refuses to doubt the conventional wisdom beliefs of this Pope is willing to take the denomination down a rabbit hole. They don't care as much that the "institution" survives



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Maybe the "Original Sin" Should be Reassigned

Image
We can all agree most Catholic priests are fine people and not guilty of sexual abuse. What Catholics must face, however, it that their church harbors executives who are dishonest . There is an incredible story about the Argentine Bishop Zanchetta. The Pope worked with him in Argentina and they are considered friends. Around 2015 Zanchetta sent nude pictures of himself and they began circulating world wide. He also was too friendly with young seminarians and some left because of him.  Three different officials say they made formal complaints to the Vatican about Zanchetta between 2015 and 2017. Yet, in 2018, the Vatican claimed it was unaware of any complaints about Zanchetta. This might be a good time to repeat the Catholic hierarchy claims to have the sole authority handed down from Jesus to what the faith stands for. It condemns as sinners those who practice birth control, have abortions and gay sexual relationships. Handing the hierarchy this responsibility would make...
Read more

Who Suffers from a "Hardened Heart"

Image
Some years ago on this blog there was a discussion about what the Bible calls "The hardened heart." The "hardened heart" was the explanation given for why people like me cannot accept the tenets of Christianity. We are unable to believe there are floating spirits and gods or imaginary places people go when the die. Now, a prominent Christian preacher and author has given us a way to diagnose the "hardened heart." It contained some surprises.  Rev. John Piper, who spoke about the hardened heart, said we can see this in a person who lacks "ordinary tenderness and compassion." He went on to describe the characteristics of a person without the affliction of the hardened heart. A healthy person displays empathy and sympathy. Those with the hardened heart are like stone. Jesus wanted compassion for the poor. The hardened heart discussion referred to atheists only if they are sinners and then it was indirectly. Sin, Piper said, hardens one's heart a...
Read more

Young Women can see Bull$hit a Mile Away

Image
Republicans including their Forced Birth subgroup is bother by recent election results and polling. All show young women going to the left. A poll shows young women are 30% more likely to be very liberal than young men. The link advises the Forced Birth community to give young pregnant women an uplifting message. The message suggested is, "Buck up. You've got this. You can give birth and have a happy life." Another way of saying this is, "It will be OK if you miss work and/or are fired because of the birth. If you cannot make your rent payment, it's OK. Somewhere out there is another place to live. We don't know where but be optimistic."   This is an add on to the new version of the Forced Birth message, "We're for both the baby and the mother." They are not and never have been for the mother. Their message has always been to condemn women who have abortions. Now, the "thoughts and prayers" message, which costs no money, it the me...
Read more