[kdogg]

Why the hell did they elect a pope that's 78 years old? The dude will be senile in a few years, and dead in a few more after that. Oh wait, I forgot that he's infallible now -- nevermind.

[Jane Sherwood]

Well, earlier than that, I just didn't really care as much. It was a weekly annoyance at most. Besides, I don't think I really understood any of it when I was that little. For example, I wasn't able to differentiate the words "sun" and "son." I distinctly remember one time - I must have been three or four - my oldest brother asked me "Did you know Jesus is the Son of God?" My response was to wince and throw my arms up over my face to block the bright light from outside and say "Well tell him to stop getting all his Sun-Power in my eyes!"

And I believed in Santa Claus until I was seven, and found all my Christmas presents in my parents' closet.

Yeah...I was a naive little thing, wasn't I?

I actually do believe in god...or gods...or whatever the hell there is out there. There's some kind of Powers That Be (Power That Is, I don't know), but I don't trust Christianity or other organized religion. I call myself agnostic for lack of a better word. There's something there...I just have no clue what it is.

[Slade]

On the Hitler Youth thing - Yeah, mandatory drafts make trying to pin actions on people sketchy. Look at Viet Nam, for instance. Of course, people pinned it on the forced soldiers when they came back anyway...

Christianity helps keep the masses in line, and people who have decided on their own that it is the correct religion for them. It supplies a guideline of rules that people who need absolutes to function can follow. I'd like to see an age where people don't need a religion to dictate their lives for them and where we can all decide what's best for ourselves and keep our minds active in those regards, but it's taken four thousand plus years just to get to where we are today, and reactionarys are constantly trying to push us back.

What we should be condemning are people who don't stop and question what they are doing and blindly follow whatever is dictated to them. If that means renouncing Catholicism, then do that - it's not for everyone. God created humans to be fellow creators, not a flock of sheep to be lead off of cliffs by false shepherds.

What I'm about to say may hurt my political power as Pope, but when I was in elementary school, I thought that chocolate milk came from brown cows. The thing is that humans take a very long time to fully develop their cognative capacities. We were all young and foolish, but we don't need to stay that way.

Go with peace, my children.

[floppydisk]

Religion is all about power. The catholic church is about power. In the 1600s(?) they were more concerned with gaining territory in the new world than "saving souls". They captured territory, and killed natives they couldn't convert or wouldn't listen to them. The Inquisitions anyone?

Religion is about control. If the masses believe that the pope is getting his rules from god, they'll do whatever he says. It works much better than a king saying 'because I said so'. Why do you think that royalty adopted the policy of divine rule (something like that; means that royalty is chosen by god)? What happened is someone created religion to scare all of the gullible cavemen ancestors, and they believed it.

Religion is about security. Even if you're the poorest person on earth, and you can't even afford to eat grass, it's okay, because god will take care of you. No matter how bad it gets, god will be watching out for you. Also the thing about life after death was made up by someone to deny the fact that they too are eventually going to die. Don't deny it, accept it! Everyone dies, and I refuse to be scared of death.

That said, I kinda wish that I had belief in god, or someone, but my logic overcomes any religion. The world seems pretty bleak at times, and it would be nice to have someone there, y'know, watching over.

Seriousness over, back to the thread!

This post has been edited by floppydisk: 20 April 2005 - 02:02 PM

[Slade]

Religion may have been about power in the past, but with my rule, it will be about providing open arms to the needy and teaching people to think. And you can't say that there's no afterlife with any more certainty than you can say that there is one.

And if there's no God, then the world shouldn't be bleak, we can all just enjoy ourselves without having to worry about getting burned for it later.

So about this other guy who thinks he's the Pope, what's his deal?

[floppydisk]

I don't know but he looks like a demon. Look at his eyes!

EIDT: Uh, oh... I see at the bottom of the screen that Hannibal's replying....

This post has been edited by floppydisk: 20 April 2005 - 02:22 PM

[Slade]

So?

[floppydisk]

He's gonna go insane on the Nazi thing that this guy had early in his life. I don't mean to insult Hannibal, but he goes crazy when nazis are involved

This post has been edited by floppydisk: 20 April 2005 - 02:29 PM

[Slade]

Nah. He understands about mandatory drafts, I'm sure. And it's kinda silly to talk about people when they are right there as if they aren't... I'd be more concerned about how conservative/reactionary this Pope is. We seem to get those terms confused very often these days. conservative means slow change. Reactionary means turning around and going backwards on the progress meter.

[Slade]

Blargh. They actually elected him. Now he's going to go off about his "dictatorship of relativism" which I just nicked off of a goole news thing. Apparently having fluid rules that can change to meet humanities needs is a constrictive dictatorship, and a true democracy is one involving strict aboslute rules without room for movement...

That is, of course, assuming he was using dictatorship as negative propaganda, and doesn't like the form of government.

I certainly hope I'm wrong, or I'll be offended to wear the same pointy hat as him. However, I'll still win because I'm 60 years younger. May God help us all.

[barend]

thrawn - my central point was more that he 'deserted' the nazis in 1945?

it's what they said on the news...

1945...

[Laughlyn]

He might have spent 2 years in a Russian Gulag, or a POW camp. I find it more believable than the idea that some brainwashed goosestepping boyscout just dumps his beliefs at the first sign of the red army.

Or the news could just have got the date wrong and filled it in with the end of the war.

At 78 the guy's a paceholder, picking either side could have dire ramifications for the church, so they choose JP's right hand man to continue his work, probaby with some concessions from the more liberal Cardinals.He doesn't have the former Popes presence though, so I'd expect him to keep a low profile on public affairs, after the initial fuss has died down.

[floppydisk]

I can understand if he was pretty much brainwashed by propaganda, then when he realized what was going on, he bolted.

[Slade]

Or if he was forced to join and served unwillingly.

Isn't if too late if you're considered brainwashed?

[Laughlyn]

Figure of speech, but I guess the almighty could probably beat any teachings out of you with a holy 2-by-4 if he wants.