[Seachmall]

Originally Posted by krudler

I love how the church flip flops on stuff like that, fire and brimstone sermons but if you asked a priest to his face if unbaptised children go to hell they'd probably say no, which I think they do now despite making parents bury their kids in unmarked graves or on unconsecrated ground for decades before. Purgatory? yup, totally exists....oh wait, no thats not there anymore.

It's hardly the Church's fault that God keeps changing the Heaven/Hell policy...

[Ellis Dee]

Originally Posted by Doc

Reading the other thread I wondered if the pope was to pass away and a new pope was chosen who attempted to modernise the church and did the following:

1: Apologised unreservedly for the sins perpetrated by members of the Catholic Church in the past and to refuse to offer protection to said parties, help bring them to justice and to bring any future criminals to justice.

2: Preached that tolerance and respect for one and other was the most important teaching of the church and that though some aspects of modern life went against the traditional teaching of the church, (such as homosexuality and contraception) it was no ones else’s place to judge these choices or people but the person in question and God.

3: Started selling off buildings and the huge collections of art owned by the church and funneling most of the funds directly into charity work for the poor in society and the rest to purchasing more meager functional properties.

Would your attitude toward the Catholic Church change for the better? I appreciate that the artiest or people of other religions are not going to suddenly believe in anything they didn’t before but would you have more respect for the religion or its practitioners?

Would agnostics or lapsed Catholics be tempted to return to the church?

Would you want the new head of the church to do more and if so what?

Even if the new Pope were to do all of those things, although I would greatly respect her for it (and hope she would last a good few years before some "good Catholic" bumped her off), I still wouldn't return to that or any other religion, because it would still be based on the God illusion, which is totally false.

[I Heart Internet]

Originally Posted by Ellis Dee

Even if the new Pope were to do all of those things, although I would greatly respect her for it (and hope she would last a good few years before some "good Catholic" bumped her off), I still wouldn't return to that or any other religion, because it would still be based on the God illusion, which is totally false.

I wish I had the strength of faith you have in your beliefs!

[DEFTLEFTHAND]

Whats needed is another reformer with the guts to take on the Curia and implement real change. Somebody young with a modern prospective on the world. Christianity needs to be dragged into the 21st century, at its very core the fundamentals are still good and worth preserving and teaching imo.

[krudler]

Originally Posted by RobbieTheRobber

Yeah cool story bro, but I think the prequel will be better.
The one about the angel loved by god the most getting jealous and causing a war in heaven.
Dont think i'll watch the spin off where man in a floating zoo grows a beard though.

All the stories sound insane when compacted i just didnt think someone would use a ridiculous compacted versions to disprove anything.

In a weird way Lucifer is the hero of the bible, standing up to god, letting people know they can think for themselves, plus hell looks way more fun than heaven, itll have better music and people like Bill Hicks and Christopher Hitchens will be there, plus all the gays, non stop mardi gras!

[RobbieTheRobber]

Originally Posted by DEFTLEFTHAND

Whats needed is another reformer with the guts to take on the Curia and implement real change. Somebody young with a modern prospective on the world. Christianity needs to be dragged into the 21st century, at its very core the fundamentals are still good and worth preserving and teaching imo.

When you say fundamentals what do you mean, things like charity and goodwill that sort of thing or are you taking about the Jesus\God virgin mother elements of christianity?

[Paddycrumlinman]

I'm amazed that people still listen to the Catholic Church let alone believe in their Bull$hit or the magic man up in the sky, Thread is a waste of 0's and 1's.

[kylith]

the RCC will never select a pope that will be inclusive, humble, modest and contrite for the church's wrongdoings. It will never happen. Every pope will be almost exactly the same as the last one.

[amacachi]

Originally Posted by talkinyite

Maybe for a wedding but not a funeral. The only time I ever went to a mass was after my mate had killed himself, the priest said he was going to hell.

Did they let him get buried in their graveyard? Not too long ago they wouldn't have.

Originally Posted by Nothingbetter2d

i shudder to think if clerical abuse was so widespread in the first world countries where we had stable governments and rule of law just how bad must it be in 3rd world countries that lack stable governments and are pretty much lawless?

I dunno, I don't see why it would've been worse back in the day. They could do what they wanted here with impunity so why head over there to do it? Probably mostly the decent ones went over.

[Wattle]

All masses should be like those in The Blues Brothers. This has to be priority number one.

[kylith]

Originally Posted by amacachi

Did they let him get buried in their graveyard? Not too long ago they wouldn't have.

I dunno, I don't see why it would've been worse back in the day. They could do what they wanted here with impunity so why head over there to do it? Probably mostly the decent ones went over.

Agreed. You may as well have a comfortable parochial house, with no heavy lifting or risk of malaria when you're abusing small children.

These days though...

[I Heart Internet]

Originally Posted by DEFTLEFTHAND

Whats needed is another reformer with the guts to take on the Curia and implement real change. Somebody young with a modern prospective on the world. Christianity needs to be dragged into the 21st century, at its very core the fundamentals are still good and worth preserving and teaching imo.

I see where you're coming from and kinda agree - Christianity must remain relevant for it to thrive. Every generation brings new challanges, discoveries, dilemmas, ideas. I very much agree that the fundamentals of Jesus Christ's teaching will never, ever get old. The naff saying "what would Jesus do?" is desperately uncool but is not far wrong - he said a lot of timeless, sensible stuff.

What always gets alarm bells ringing for me is when people talk of "young, modern, reform". The church's track record in this area is strewn with dodgy theology, nylon vestments, wooly jumpers, woeful "music", clown-masses and nuns in tie-dye tshirts.

Evolve based on truth - yes
Play acting at being trendy - no

[DavyD_83]

If Brian Cowen changed his jumper would you think he was a competent and trustworthy politician?

[I Heart Internet]

Originally Posted by kylith

the RCC will never select a pope that will be inclusive, humble, modest and contrite for the church's wrongdoings. It will never happen. Every pope will be almost exactly the same as the last one. I agree with so I'm gonna draw the ridiculous, lazy conclusion that they're all the same.

Corrected for you

[DEFTLEFTHAND]

Originally Posted by RobbieTheRobber

When you say fundamentals what do you mean, things like charity and goodwill that sort of thing or are you taking about the Jesus\God virgin mother elements of christianity?

Yes things like charity and goodwill, having morals etc. Things that the R.C.C have lost sight of.