The Courtyard of the Gentiles

bnt

So, the Vatican says they want to reach out to atheists ... but only on their terms, and they are not looking for any substantive debate:

The Vatican hopes to stage a series of debates in Paris next year. But militant non-believers hoping for a chance to set senior church figures straight about the existence of God are set to be disappointed: the church has warned that atheists with high public profiles such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens will not be invited. The "Courtyard of the Gentiles", as the foundation is known, is being set up by the Pontifical Council for Culture, the influential Vatican department that is charged with fostering better relations with non-Catholics. It was founded by Pope John Paul II in 1982 to spearhead his attempts to create a better dialogue with other cultures and faith, including those with no religion at all.

And there I was thinking that "gentile" meant "not Jewish". Goy, oh goy ...

The church is also aware that its reputation has suffered enormously in the eyes of atheists following the explosion of clerical sex-abuse scandals that broke out in Western Europe earlier this year and spread across the globe.

It's not atheists that the Church needs to worry about here, IMHO - it's the existing believers who have started asking difficult questions.

Zillah

We should start a campaign to get some of the more...vociferous...posters here included. What fun we could have.

bnt

Hey, I'll happily spend a week in Paris, if someone's willing to fund me. I know a nice hotel on the Champs d'Elysee, and know enough French to order a nice soufflé and a verre of Bourdeaux. :cool:

But what kind of debate can you really have with religious people who ignore evidence that exists, and see evidence where there is none?

hiorta

In Scotland this weekend, a Bishop Devine has taken it upon himself to lambaste the 'majority of paedophiles who are within the family' for giving the RCC a bad name.
Aside from them not even acknowledging their protracted cover-up of their in-house paedophiles, far less remove them, it seems they are still on the same track of blaming someone else for their own difficulties.
The good Bishop now accepts that paedophiles cannot be 'cured', but still no admission of the RCC still failing to tackle their massive problem.

Wacker

bnt wrote: »

And there I was thinking that "gentile" meant "not Jewish". Goy, oh goy ...

You bad, bad man!

Dades

The Vatican should stick to sweeping up the uneducated masses in the 2nd and 3rd World, rather than "reaching out" to wayward Europeans.

And what is their obsession with Genitals, anyway? :pac:

magicbastarder

bnt wrote: »

And there I was thinking that "gentile" meant "not Jewish". Goy, oh goy ...

also used by the mormons to denote non-mormons.

krudler

Dades wrote: »

The Vatican should stick to sweeping up the uneducated masses in the 2nd and 3rd World, rather than "reaching out" to wayward Europeans.

And what is their obsession with Genitals, anyway? :pac:

Its a pity they cant use "eat da poo poo!" as their slogan (if you dont know what that is, youtube it, you're guaranteed a laugh nothing gross just hilarity from a Ugandan nutjob

Beruthiel

bnt wrote: »

Hey, I'll happily spend a week in Paris, if someone's willing to fund me. I know a nice hotel on the Champs d'Elysee

Look at you with your expensive tastes.
I think the Pigalle is more the style of a durty, hell bound atheist!

Zombrex

This is hilarious.

It is like a defeated army looking around at the enemy marching across their country, into their capital city and planting the enemy flag at the top of the parliament, to then say "Ok guys, perhaps it is time for a cease fire and some peace talks"

Organised religion in the west is dead. It will be replaced by personal spiritualism and atheism. The only people who don't realize this are the organized religions.

Petrovia

bnt wrote: »

Hey, I'll happily spend a week in Paris, if someone's willing to fund me. I know a nice hotel on the Champs d'Elysee, and know enough French to order a nice soufflé and a verre of Bourdeaux. :cool:

To be honest, if it's funded, bouteille would probably be a better word to use. :pac:

iUseVi

krudler wrote: »

Its a pity they cant use "eat da poo poo!" as their slogan (if you dont know what that is, youtube it, you're guaranteed a laugh nothing gross just hilarity from a Ugandan nutjob

Thank! Hilarious indeed.

goingpostal

I think Papa Ratzi should be made to eat da poo poo, voluntarily or involuntarily. I've a feeling this will just be a waste of time, just PR for the church. It reminds me of Dawkins refusing to debate with creationists, it lends them an undeserved aura of respectability and equality.

Galvasean

bnt wrote: »

they want to reach out to atheists ... but only on their terms, and they are not looking for any substantive debate:

Of course they don't want substantial debate. They'd only lose. It would be like them challenging the Globetrotters to a game of basketball.

wonderfulname

Wicknight wrote: »

Organised religion in the west is dead. It will be replaced by personal spiritualism and atheism. The only people who don't realize this are the organized religions.

Woah woah woah you are seriously underestimating the stupidity of some people!! The more liberal and accepting governments get the more ultra orthodox religious pop up in defiance, the more we learn about our world and what exists outside of it the more people there are who don't understand and hence dig in their heels, or search desperately for the god in what is put before them.

sensibleken

maybe they meant the courtyard of the genteels which i believe is next to the Fop shed.