Quote:
|
Now 'religious' people in Canada, where free thinking is encouraged and taught from a young age, incorrectly (and irrationally) think there is a (3) option, where you can believe in a some of it but not all of it and that is okay. The problem is that the catholic church (like many old school churches) does NOT believe this to be true. If you think (3) not only are you irrational, you are not catholic either.
|
My father was, until recently, a very devout Catholic. He was indoctrinated in the Church's teachings since his birth, attended mass every Sunday, was an altar boy, went to Catholic school where he was taught by nuns, the whole deal.
A few years ago, I confronted him with an article along the same lines as the one in the OP, except this one was about the Vatican's stance on birth control. The story described how Catholic priests and bishops in Africa were telling the local populations that it was sinful to use condoms. Some were even spreading misinformation by saying that condoms were not effective at preventing the transmission of HIV. Confronted with this info, I asked my father how he could continue to support an organization whose policies will lead to the deaths of thousands -- if not millions -- from AIDS.
He replied that he didn't support the Vatican's position on birth control and that he considered himself to be a "smörgåsbord Catholic" (what you described as the (3) option), meaning he could pick and choose which beliefs of the Church he followed and which ones he ignored. I countered that his position was similar to a German, circa 1938, describing himself as a "smörgåsbord Nazi" because he didn't agree with the oppression of the Jews but remained a loyal member of the Nazi Party because Hitler revatilized the German economy and got the trains running on time.
I like to think that illuminated a lightbulb for him.
This morning, upon seeing the OP, I sent him the following email:
Quote:
The Vatican has excommunicated several doctors in Brazil for performing an abortion to save the life of a nine year-old girl who was raped by her step-father and became pregnant with twins. They also excommunicated the girl's mother for granting the doctors permission to perform the operation. In an act of mercy towards the child, the victim was not excommunicated, but Archbishop Don Jose Cardoso Sobrinho very carefully stated that she was only spared that fate because she is a minor.
The Church did not excommunicate the child rapist.
I didn't think it was possible for the Catholic Church to become any more morally bankrupt than it already is, but then I heard about this.
|
This was his reply:
Quote:
|
Right you are. Completely, utterly criminal. A-holes.
|