If you don’t agree with or abide by the teachings of the Catholic Church, you aren’t Catholic. Clinging to the label when the substance is gone is like cherishing wrapping paper after discarding the gift.
Well, there are some who believe religion is only religion when it’s something you grow up in and never question membership in. Others contend you don’t believe that religion unless you consciously understand and believe every official dogma and practice of that religion. There’s a push and pull, a creative tension between the “true believer” thesis and the “cultural” thesis. Most fall somewhere in between and always have.
I tend to believe the vast majority of people don’t Believe or practice their religion they claim to believe in practice. That’s as true of Catholicism as orthodoxy has protestants of liberal and conservative, it’s true Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, everything. I’m not sure true believers fully understand that were there barFor membership ever be enforced, there would be literally almost no one in any of the churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, monasteries, etc.
123 - I agree with you. As a refugee from The Episcopal Church, I find myself balled up in some sort of a spiritual fetal position under one of the pews of a presbyterian church. Do I hold with all the tenets of Reform Theology? Certainly not. Can I find comfort & strength amongst fellow worshipers? Certainly.
If the church I attend knew what I really believe, I would probably be excommunicated. But, my own understanding of scripture, prayer life, & answers to prayer assure me that things will turn out ok.
Well, if the author had been taken seriously back in the 30's....Franco wouldn't be around...and I doubt the Nazis would have been so big....and in the 70-60's Pinochet would have disappeared.....
Just a cotton picking minute. Franco was a monarchist, not a fascist. We White Russians are proud to have fought with him. He used Hitler and got away with it. Stalin cut a deal with Hitler and got burnt. Learn your history.
One more thing. My great-grandfather was a German Jew who came to these shores in the 19th century. I lost three Jewish relatives in the Holocaust. Not to mention, Polish and Russian relatives who perished at both the hands of the Nazis and Soviets. I am not an apologist for Hitler. You may want to look on the Monomakhos blog for such types.
Well, there are some who believe religion is only religion when it’s something you grow up in and never question membership in. Others contend you don’t believe that religion unless you consciously understand and believe every official dogma and practice of that religion. There’s a push and pull, a creative tension between the “true believer” thesis and the “cultural” thesis. Most fall somewhere in between and always have.
ReplyDeleteI tend to believe the vast majority of people don’t Believe or practice their religion they claim to believe in practice. That’s as true of Catholicism as orthodoxy has protestants of liberal and conservative, it’s true Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, everything. I’m not sure true believers fully understand that were there barFor membership ever be enforced, there would be literally almost no one in any of the churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, monasteries, etc.
123 - I agree with you. As a refugee from The Episcopal Church, I find myself balled up in some sort of a spiritual fetal position under one of the pews of a presbyterian church. Do I hold with all the tenets of Reform Theology? Certainly not. Can I find comfort & strength amongst fellow worshipers? Certainly.
ReplyDeleteIf the church I attend knew what I really believe, I would probably be excommunicated. But, my own understanding of scripture, prayer life, & answers to prayer assure me that things will turn out ok.
Well, if the author had been taken seriously back in the 30's....Franco wouldn't be around...and I doubt the Nazis would have been so big....and in the 70-60's Pinochet would have disappeared.....
ReplyDeleteWhat does the article have to do with Franco? Or Hitler, for that matter?
ReplyDeleteRight....fascism is O.K.....
ReplyDeleteI am not seeing anyone making such an assertion. In my experience straw man arguments are generally unpersuasive.
ReplyDeleteJust a cotton picking minute. Franco was a monarchist, not a fascist. We White Russians are proud to have fought with him. He used Hitler and got away with it. Stalin cut a deal with Hitler and got burnt. Learn your history.
ReplyDeleteOne more thing. My great-grandfather was a German Jew who came to these shores in the 19th century. I lost three Jewish relatives in the Holocaust. Not to mention, Polish and Russian relatives who perished at both the hands of the Nazis and Soviets. I am not an apologist for Hitler. You may want to look on the Monomakhos blog for such types.
ReplyDelete