this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2023
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Pope Francis condemned the "very strong, organised, reactionary attitude" in the US church and said Catholic doctrine allows for change over time.

Pope Francis has blasted the “backwardness” of some conservatives in the US Catholic Church, saying they have replaced faith with ideology and that a correct understanding of Catholic doctrine allows for change over time.

Francis’ comments were an acknowledgment of the divisions in the US Catholic Church, which has been split between progressives and conservatives who long found support in the doctrinaire papacies of St John Paul II and Benedict XVI, particularly on issues of abortion and same-sex marriage.

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[–] [email protected] 83 points 1 year ago (38 children)

Religion is the biggest scourge against humans. Controlling behavior, brainwashing the young and stolen untold trillions of $$. Fuck religion. They all need to be labeled as cults and treated as harshly.

[–] [email protected] 52 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Religion, at its core, is basically rules that state "don't be a dick." Unfortunately, all of the dicks didn't get the message.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (3 children)

It's not "don't be a dick'.

It's "do as we want you to do"

Plenty of the rules are "be a dick, like this:"

Plenty of the rules are "don't do this objectively harmless thing"

Plenty of the rulez are "do this ridiculously pointless thing"

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes, modern religion has many rules made by the dicks once they took over. Before the dicks rules were things like don't steal shit, don't fuck your neighbor's wife, don't murder people, don't lie about shit, etc. The dicks were so bad that some other guy had to come along and say "seriously guys, stop being dicks". But the dicks didn't like that so they killed him.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Phallus 6:9 - And lo' the Lord said unto Clitoris, "Be thou not a dick by thine actions, nor by thy words, nor by thy thoughts."

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Plenty of the rules are "don't do this objectively harmless thing"

Plenty of the rulez are "do this ridiculously pointless thing"

Most declarations of what religions do and don't don't do miss Discordianism pretty hard, but you got us on those.

Exhibits: A) Don't eat hotdog buns. B) Go off alone on a Friday and eat a hotdog with a bun.

Good looking out for us religious minorities.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Ish.

Many religions are more "don't be a dick to your fellow brothers in faith, but feel free to be a dick to others". In-group out-group dynamics were historically quite important.

You know - "don't murder", but at the same time Deuteronomy says

10 When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. 11 If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. 12 If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. 13 When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. 14 As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves.

Also

(19) “You are not to lend at interest to your brother, no matter whether the loan is of money, food or anything else that can earn interest. 21 (20) To an outsider you may lend at interest, but to your brother you are not to lend at interest, so that Adonai your God will prosper you in everything you set out to do in the land you are entering in order to take possession of it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (7 children)

You know - "don't murder", but at the same time Deuteronomy says

If you take each verse at face value, this is a problem and what you imply is true.

But the thing you quoted from Deuteronomy were instructions to the Israelites. It's recorded history, not instruction. You can't just point to a verse in the Bible (like Acts 8:8 "Saul, for his part, approved of his murder") and say "see? The Bible says to do bad things!"

And going deeper shows that the Mosaic Law (the laws in the old testament, excluding the ten commandments), part of which is in your second block quote, was superceded by the Law Covenant when Jesus died. Again, it was a law directed specifically at Jews of the time.

You can kinda think of the first five Bible books (called the Torah in Judaism) as a speed run of history. So much happens in terms of time covered in those five books.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

And yet the golden rule usually doesn't get written down until multiple generations after the religion is formed. Took almost a century for Christianity to bother.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The problem is "don't be a dick" meant different things in different points in time. Now, enough time has elapsed that there are a huge amount of different iterations of "don't be a dick" rules and people just pick and choose which rules suits them.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you're talking about all religions, I can't speak to that. But if we're talking about "Christians", then that's not the case. "Love your neighbour" and "Continue to love your enemies and to pray for those who persecute you" are pretty hard to interpret "differently". There's no excuse.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's not about interpreting things differently and more about picking and choosing what to believe.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

This is true also

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

When the rules are laws, lawyers argue in front of judges and define the grey areas. They change the grey areas from time to time. We as a society have agreed to have a single interpretation of those rules.

In religion, when people don't agree on the rules or how they should be interpreted, they can break apart and form their own religion. There is no governing body with the power to enforce the single interpretation.

Thus, people who missed the dont be a dick memo just find each other and pretend their interpretation of the thousands of years old text is more valid than the don't be a dick crowd.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (16 children)

I would settle for taxing them.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I think a better option would be stripping the tax exempt status from the ones that politik from the pulpit. Actually enforce the law we have now instead of being afraid of looking like we're persecuting them. Hell, they all have that complex already anyway.

Taxing them all would just open the floodgates.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)

It's very inline with the church's teaching to pay taxes.

Mark 12:17 Then Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and give to God the things that are God's.” The men were amazed at what Jesus said.

There is no religious conflict at all with taxing churches.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Taxing them all would just open the floodgates.

You say that as if it's a bad thing.

These assholes should deal with a real flood for once.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I dont think the churches that just sit and read a book are really deserving of a "flood". I also wouldn't call taxes a flood though, so I'm not opposed to that.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

"Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

We're doing pretty good on the king front, lets work on the priests a bit

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"Cult" is just something the big congregation calls the small congregation.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There's a whole list of 8 points over what constitute a cult.

I don't remember the whole thing, but it was something like : Cults don't let you leave. If you do leave, your family and friends who are still in the cult will not speak to you. Cults control you in details. They make sure you are tired at the end of the day, too tired to think for yourself. Cults make you dependent financially. Once you are that deep in, leaving means starting over economically.

There's more, but it is different from how most people experience mainstream religions (I mean there are pockets here and there that are very cultish, but really the religion as a whole is a different beast that just works differently than an actual cult).

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Tell me more about how you've never been in a church in the south.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (12 children)

IDK, if we're comparing scourges against humanity I'd say "the rich" in general are worse, be they kings, CEOs, religious icons, politicians, or whatever. Their pursuit of money and the power to keep that money corrupts everything. They ruin everything from companies to countries and even religions (makes them even worse).

Really though, the most evil thing is cancer. It kills indiscriminately and tortures its victims the whole way. Even if you win, you never get the peace of knowing it's truly gone. True evil.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Really though, the most evil thing is cancer

Another reason why, if God exists at all, they're not worth a penny of my income or a moment of my time.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I like the similar sentiment from a while back:

The messengers and the prophets will come to you and give you what belongs to you. You, in turn, give them what you have, and say to yourselves, 'When will they come and take what belongs to them?'

  • Jesus (but in a text buried in a jar for centuries after becoming punishable by death for just possessing it)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Agreed.

I'll gain an iota of respect for Frankie and Catholics when they unilaterally decide to stop donating money to this church until they purge all of the child rapists and reform their teachings on confessions so child rapists are no longer protected.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

You think the Pope donates money to the church?

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