“he will still think of me as intrinsically evil”

I don’t think he will, I mean has he even met you?

Lol me as a gay man!

Actually Damocles he’d definitely think I was evil if he met me! A gay scientist and teacher that studies the history of catholicism as a hobbie and has his own ideas on the nature of christianity….. Oh hell yes he’d think I was evil!!!

it’s like you’re in my mind….

I couldn’t agree with you more Conor :)

Met many Jesuits, Conor?

I know two actually. Not bad guys, they were both originally physicists before they did their 9 years of training.

1) It’s just a way of mocking religion. You can mock anything. Mocking is not any sort of argument.

and

2) What has it got to do with “Tears, cheers and prayers as the Vatican reveals new pope”

“Mocking is not any sort of argument”

WRONG. Go and google reductio ad absurdum.

It’s an argument that demonstrates the absurdity of believing anything on the basis that the thing cannot be disproven. It’s one of many modern variations of Bertrand Russell’s celestial teapot.

@ Ruairi O’ Sullivan

sigh away, mo chara – to your heart’s content !!
you’re not Vinny Browne, by any chance ???

lighten up Barry, if like me you’re a non believer then fair enough but if people get solace and comfort from it then leave them be.

But he’s supposed to be God’s representative on Earth!? How could he be so hateful? Let me go check the bible…

Yep, that checks out.

Yeah for feck sake Barry. Aids riddles Africans being told not to use condoms because they go against the will of God gives me solace and comfort. Lay off!

* riddled even… way too many typos tonight. Yawn.

Religion is like a virus in people’s minds. I have to constantly remind myself that but for the grace of logic and science go I. It’s hard, having never been religious, to put myself in their position of believing things that, if the demographics were different, would make me certifiable.

Catholic religion is different fro Scientology.

Well said! Let us start a new chapter in our church’s history! These are very exciting times!

Question.

You say ‘Serve The Lord’. Have any of you;

- Seen The Lord
- Heard The Lord
- Is he a man or is she a woman
- Seen Jesus
- Heard Jesus
- Read anything that was wrote around the time Jesus was alive?

Or have any of you, do you have unequivocal proof that ‘The Lord’ exists, the proof that can be seen by all? By the way, same applies for all ‘Gods’, Allah, Ganesh, Buddah..

Anyone?

How easy for true believers to ignore the terrible evils of this corrupt organisation. Very sad indeed.

Damocles, you forgot:

“sky fairies”
“spagetti monsters”
“pink elephants”
etc
etc

blaa blaa blaa

looks like ol Damocles isn’t smiling.
to hell with the begrudgers, like Damocles & those of his ilk on Politics.ie
give the cat another goldfish.

VIVA EL PAPA !!!!

Lynda Cunnane, so lets ignores the crimes carried out in the name of the church?

Lets not forget you can bet good money these crimes are still being carried out in third world countries right now, we will eventually hear about them.

I didn’t forget, James, I simply didn’t bother.

And why should we bother with these miserable people?

In today’s world people who want to believe will and people who don’t want to believe won’t. People who don’t want to believe but leave alone those who do are often quite Christian in their outlook and have my respect.

The rest of them? Sod ‘em.

So you want to serve your lord by ignoring paedophiles currently raping children while dressed as priests?

And you get all defensive when others dislike he church!

Why not follow in your saviours footsteps and clean the church? Or are you just happy to go along and do what your told by the very men who would protect paedophiles?

Doesnt sound very christian to me!

Damocles;

Ah yes, the Church has always been the gentle organisation with only the good at heart, it never tried to silence free thinkers and those who challenged mantra…. Oh wait!!

The people who are so adamant that there is a God, are in some cases worse that people 100 years ago, as they’re hell bent on believing this nonsense, and refuse rational arguments and science. It’s also crazy that people call themselves Catholics, yet the RCC has such twisted views on Homosexuality & Women, demeaning these people as second class citizens.

Sickens me.

Those that don’t remember their history are doomed to repeat it.

Sure we can ignore what the church has done, but then we allow it all to happen again. We fail as human beings if we allow this to happen.

The church should never forget what it has done to thousand upon thousands of children,

Damo remind us again which of the two groups you describe is trying to force its views on gay marriage, female reproduction rights etc on the other…

You don’t just simply walk away and forget the crimes and subsequent cover ups perpetrated by the Catholic Church, likewise you don’t just shrug your shoulders and assume it will all work itself out and cry foul and pretend you’re persecuted as soon as it’s mentioned.

“You don’t just simply walk away and forget the crimes”

No. You don’t. But no one is required to hate on religion during a time of celebration and hope for global Christianity either.

Or maybe some of you are required to. But by whom?

Damocles, celebration of what?

Its leader has changed but he’s no different on issues such as same sex marriage and the likes.

It’s done nothing to prove its changed yet, when it shows meaningful actions and changes then come back to us

Damocles,

I agree with you on that one. I’ll stop commenting and let you enjoy getting a new pope.

But promise me that in the very near future, when another batch of scandals come to light, you’ll be here defending your church and not ignoring the facts, praying for the stories to go away…

“you’ll be here defending your church”

It isn’t my church. I broke with mainstream Roman Catholicism a couple of decades ago on theological grounds. But I still respect the institution, the leader thereof and the great tradition that he represents.

Dublin lad, I presume you don’t believe in Santa either?

Do you people never get tired of having the same arguments over and over and over again?

You must be delighted with the Pope election so you can trot out the same things written a thousand times before. Santa Claus indeed.

I suppose in the 80s or 90s, there was the shock value, but it’s a bit like my 4 year old shouting “bum bum poo” all the time. It all gets tired and yada yada yada.

What did yee expect? A remarried divorcee lesbian pro-choice pope who’ll give out condoms with communion?

Great defence James. Maybe I’ll try using that in court one day.

When they put me on the stand the the prosecution starts interrigating me about the murder I’ll be all like… “here we go again”… “same old arguments” …”why do you have to keep going on about this murder?”….

Defence of what exactly?
What was I defending?

@ James Roberts

Here is a article from thejournal yesterday about an archbishop-come-cardinal who has evidence against him that he covered up for paedophile priests and, despite this, still travelled to Rome to elect the new pope.

http://www.thejournal.ie/los-angeles-diocese-to-pay-out-e10-million-to-four-abuse-victims-830006-Mar2013/

Do you really think we should just stop being critical and let them do whatever they want without saying a thing? I don’t think people should be satisfied and let the past go until men like Mahony are put on trial and imprisoned if found guilty. I won’t stop simple because it’s become tedious for you!

Well for one:

“What did y ou expect a remarried divorcee lesbian pro-choice pope who’ll give out condoms with communion?”

you seem to think that because the church’s bigoted behaviour is “expected” that we should stop expressing outrage at it.

The fact that we’ve heard it all before, nothing has changed and yet people still give them money and make excuses for them, is a reason to get louder, not quieter.

No, I won’t desensitise myself to bigotry and those who support it.

@Lynda – “New Chapter”, more like Copy & Paste previous chapter and rename title

”why do you have to keep going on about this murder?”

That’s cracking.

Brilliant James. So sad to see so many zombies. Viva papa, viva papa…. Or as frankie 1 might say ‘who’s your daddy?’

No. It’s designed to dismiss those who would prefer to hate on religion.

No damocles, you comment was to dusmiss those who would mention homophobia or paedophiles.

You don’t want anyone to mention the atrocities your church has commited and tried to hide.

You claim to be a catholic, but your very actions and comments contradict your apparent beliefs.

Does jesus want you to be so subservient? Does god just want mindless drones to go to mass every week and chant for an hour?

A common criticism of religion in general and Christianity in particular is that it tells people what they have to think.

And here’s you telling me what I’m thinking.

Like you have any great insight.

I’d tell you what I’m thinking but the comment would be deleted almost immediately.

Damocles i’ve read and enjoyed too many of your posts to believe that.”Cat among the pigeons”.

Damocles I use to think you were cool man. What happened?

Ah no in all seriousness it’s perfectly valid to “hate on religion”, especially when they actually do do tangible harm. The problem with blind faith is that it’s blind. Even if every Christian actually behaved like one and didn’t proselytise I would still be justified in attacking religion because of the potential harm they could cause if their faith was steered in a different direction. What you fail to realise (perhaps) is that I’m attacking a belief and not the person who holds that belief (most of the time; sometimes I slip).

sorry Damocles
didn’t notice your ” ”

again – to hell with the begrudgers, & there are so many of em here on The Journal.ie.

VIVA EL PAPA !!!!!!!

There you go….the hate diversion, the argument of persecution because people quite rightly chose not to let religion sweep their crimes and cover ups under the carpet.
The christians who voiced outrage at religious crimes against children and indeed humanity and are now rejoicing over a person complicit in the crimes becoming their spiritual leader are hypocrites.
Religion has no place to hide, it’s as open to chastisement and derision as politics and wheeling out the faith card and the notion that it should be respected is ridiculous.

” I use to think you were cool man. What happened?”

You lost your ability to define what is “cool”. I’m the same as I’ve always been. I’m straightforward and honest about my views while being a little sarcastic and cynical.

But you don’t agree with me on everything. That’s okay. It’s normal. I don’t care.