The Pope Has Got His Gold-Laced Hat on Too Tight
The current leader of the child-molestation brigade has made some funny statements as of late. Here is one of them:
"We are now seeing, in the collapse of major banks, that money vanishes, it is nothing. All these things that appear to be real are in fact secondary. Only God's words are a solid reality".
You know what, buddy; I’ll take that kind of comment from the Amish or the Buddhists, but not from you. You mean to tell me that the Catholic Church isn’t about money?!?
Let’s see how a humble servant of the lord such as your self thinks we should live:
Understated silk and gold clothes
A cheap, affordable Mercedes
A modest house with only a few hundred rooms
Our own city, carved from marble
You surround yourself with riches and power and expect us to believe that you are somehow better than all of us because you don’t believe in money, but instead believe in an invisible man in the sky? Sorry Popey, but your god has exactly the same influence on our lives as random chance. Your god is a figment and you use him to gain wealth and power over the desperate. If you really think that material needs are unimportant, let’s see you move out of Vatican City and into a nice little hut in Zimbabwe. Live there for a year and then if you don’t change your tune I’ll consider listening to you. Until then, shut the fuck up.
Amen
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. . . some of the best thieves in art history were Popes. Keep the Pope keep the museums running and let the Franciscans do good works. The Vatican Museums & St. Peters
• even for an ardent anti-supernaturalist, they're must-sees
The Vatican doesn't get much money from me. Admission fees to its art collections -- Michelangelo and Rafael did a little interior decorating there.
Souvenirs bought from the always sweet-mannered nuns in a shop on the roof -- directly behind the famous statues over the portico. Restrooms nearby. Also on the roof. A pilgrim always looks for a loo.
St. Peter's basilica was designed for theater. Spectaculars. And, of course, for the faithful it's a holy site and the center of Christ's Church on Earth.
It's gateway supposedly open between here and there, between here and hereafter. As a machine it doesn't work --- there being no there there, and no hereafter after here.
Nevertheless when in Rome, visit. You will be impressed, especially if you climb to the tippy-top lantern for a view of the City and the World.
bipolar2
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Bipolar2,
I've been lucky enough to have visited Italy some six times and I was also lucky enough to have visited St. Peter's, the Vatican Museum, the Sistene Chapel, and all the rest. It was a truly moving experience. Unfortunately, we had to cut the visit short because we thought it would be funny to put our hands over this very large book encased in bullet proof glass and chant "Klaatu barada nikto". After that the guards seemed to follow us and it made us nervous. Ah well.
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funny thing is, some Christian people (not the pope) actually moved to places like Zimbabwe and helped people there. They believe in the same God as the Pope (even though the catholic church is the wolves Jesus spoke about.) Just because a "believer" is a self-centered, overpowered, control-freak, doesn't mean who he is claiming to believe in is fake. That's like saying an employee of a company is a d-bag so the head of the company must be on as well... if Christians are wrong then who cares? but what if they are right? ... then what?
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Some fella,
I did not say that the Pope is a douche bag and thus so is his boss (God). What I am trying to convey is how ironic and twisted it was for the Pope to proclaim that money isn’t real and does not matter while he lives in wealth, all the while stating that the word of his truly intangible god is solid reality.
On sort of a side thought, if God were the CEO of a company, he’d be doing a really poor job because his employees can’t agree on most of the company policies, let alone the name of the company. I mean, that shows some serious lack of leadership in my book. (For my readers who have a hard time with metaphor, I just said that God is a poor leader because he has completely failed to get his message across in a clear, unequivocal manor so that all of us can make an informed decision as to whether or not to follow his path.)
Your last statement / question about “what if the Christian’s are right” is a very good and valid one. A very smart man by the name of Blaise Pascal came across that same thought while he was working on probability theory. It’s called Pascal's Wager (or Pascal's Gambit) and it goes something like this: Even though the existence of God cannot be determined through reason, a person should "wager" as though God exists, because so living has potentially everything to gain, and certainly nothing to lose. He figured this because human life on Earth is small and finite while life in heaven would be infinite. In other words, if you live your life like there is a God and there is one, then you get infinite rewards and if there isn’t then so what. The flip side, of course, is that you live your life like there is no God and if there is one then you get eternal damnation and if there isn’t then so what.
This sounds very well and good and is very convincing on the surface but it is not without flaw. It fails to take into account that you may be worshiping the wrong god, that you may be following the wrong rules (scripture) or interpreting them in an incorrect manor, or that God may reward honest attempted reasoning and punish blind or feigned faith. There is a nearly infinite number of ways in which you could go wrong in your worship, so your chances of the winning goal of eternal bliss are actually quite slim. “So what?” you ask. What is the harm in living life like God exists? Quite a lot, I’m afraid: wars, terrorism, intolerance, and the squandering of the precious few years on Earth that we know for a fact exist.
I’ll give you an example... (continued)
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(continued from above)
Recently in Somalia a woman named Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow was punished for adultery. She was punished by being first buried up to her neck and then stoned to death by over 50 men. As she begged for mercy, she asked why they were doing this to her. They told her, “We will do what Allah has instructed us.” Aisha’s father stated that her 13 year old daughter was raped by three men. When the family tried to report the rape, the girl was accused of adultery, detained, and eventually stoned to death because of religious beliefs.
I know, I know, Christian’s don’t behave like that. Maybe yes, maybe no, but that is not my point. My point is that this crazy bunch of Muslims could just as easily say, “If Muslims are wrong then who cares? but what if they are right? ... then what?”
I think both the Christians and the Muslims are wrong, and I care.
My philosophy is that truly good people work to be kind, honest, and caring every day not because they seek reward or fear retribution, but because it is simply the right way to behave as a human being. And if it turns out that there is a God, so what? The truly good will still get into heaven.
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Nobody ever says that good isn't done by people of faith. However, to do good doesn't require faith.
Your example of an employee in a company doesn't hold water. I understand where you're trying to go, but the Pope is the head of the Catholic Church and it holds him as infallible. That being the case, imagine there is a company that requires all its employees to think the same way as the CEO, and that CEO is a d-bag.
Secondly, are you suggesting that people should worship god on the off chance he exists or out of a fear of hell? I should like to think that if I'm wrong and there is a god, s/he'd be smart enough to realize the dishonesty in that proposition.
To look at it another way, if god does exist and deserves respect and love, then s/he gave me skepticism, logic, and critical thinking abilities, therefore punishing me for those attributes makes no sense.
And if the Christians are right, we have one hell of a lot more to worry about than our own reward.
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Amen TheOnlyAnswerINeed42.
Dissident, if you read this comment, can we add a Reckless Philosopher Towel to our store and send this person one?
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By the way, I think some fella was actually trying to say that God is the boss and the pope is just another d-bag employee. But we know that the pope is more than that, he is the d-bag Vice President who runs the show while the boss is out fishing and playing golf for 2008 years and counting.
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You forgot the Prada shoes.
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Thanks for adding that.
By the way, nice screen name. I think the question is "What do you get when you multiply six by nine?"
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The catholic church doesnt speak for all christians. Just because the catholic church is corrupted by money doesnt mean all churches are. I honestly believe God is upset with them and he will judge them in the end.
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D, Let me explain something. These people who write this crap about Christians and Muslims etc are purely and simply motivated by hatred. That's all they know and all they're interested in. They spend hours trawling for 'interesting facts' which reinforce their twisted beliefs and if they don't find any they just invent 'em. I mean, who is going to check? But ask them what they believe in, who their heroes are, and they'll scatter.
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Mohammad Salim, D, Justin, and anyone else who shares their concerns:
I don't hate Muslims, Christians, or any other religious group. I believe the majority of religious people are well meaning and work daily to be good people and do good deeds. I also believe that Atheist can be good people as well. My anger and disappointment is in those who pervert their religion and commit unspeakable acts in the name of their God. I'd like to think that you feel this way as well, since it is these rare cases that give your religions a bad name. My harshness towards the Pope and the fifty men who stoned to death an alleged adulterer was to illustrate that belief, not to condemn their religions or to try to make it look as if all Christians or Muslims behave in that way. I can understand your confusion because as an atheist and a sarcastic bastard, my writing tends to be critical of religion as a whole.
In hind sight, using Muslims in my example was probably a poor choice exactly because of the sensitivity that you all are showing to it. I used it because I had just heard the story earlier in the day and it fit well into what I was trying to convey. It really could have been any group of religious folk. Believe me, I know that it must be hard to be Muslim these days - especially after September 11, 2001. There are plenty of ignorant assholes that think all Muslims are terrorists or evil, but I assure you that I am not one of them.
The bottom line is that both religious and non-religious people are capable of being angels or bastards and it is dangerous for any of us to assume that there is a direct relationship between religious beliefs and behavior.
Can we be friends now?
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I'm sorry that many of you don't recognize the bigotry in your own words. As a Catholic I am beginning to feel like a hated minority. Maybe some of you think your attacks on Muslims are acceptable, but they are simple bigotry as well. I hold out a hand in friendship, but I must turn my back on your stupidity.
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Justin,
I don't hate you, Christians or Muslims. The only group of people I hate are the ones that drive slowly in the fast lane. They should definitely go to hell
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I should also state that we shouldn't judge the value of any group by the actions of the few. Muslims receive so much hatred these days, though the vast majority of the Muslim community is comprised of decent, hard-working honest people. My sister is Catholic and married a Muslim man and his family has been kind and gracious to us.
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No argument there.
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To B (or not to
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Crap. I wrote this nice, long response and then I timed out and lost it. It was very good and well thought out but I'm too lazy to capture the whole thing again. I'll try to summarize at least.
Thanks for writing back. I think we are essentially on the same page. My writing style is typically tongue-in-cheek and sarcastic with a core of seriousness, hence the name Reckless Philosophers. It is meant to make a point, but in a lighthearted manner. I think that when we are afraid of each other we tend to be serious or silent with each other, but friends joke around with each other.
I can't say that I have any steadfast heroes, but I will give you a list of some of the people I admire for one reason or another.
I admire Douglas Adams for being able to string several thousand words together in a clever order.
I admire Werner Heisenberg, Max Planck, Louis de Broglie, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Erwin Schrödinger, Max Born, John von Neumann, Paul Dirac, and Wolfgang Pauli for their work in quantum mechanics as well as other fields.
I admire Richard Dawkins for trying to continually explain Darwin's theories in new and interesting ways.
I admire Johann Sebastian Bach for composing some of the worlds most complex and beautiful music.
I admire Chasey Lane for her beauty and skill as an "actress".
I admire Lewis Hamilton for being able to drive the hell out of an F1 car.
I admire my father for being an exceptionally kind and intelligent person.
I could probably go on for days, but that should suffice for now.
Assalamu Alilkum Wa Rahmatulah Wa Barakatuh. B.
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Wow B, if that's a summary I'm glad you timed out. Look I'll be honest with you, I've never heard of half these people you refer to, especially the ones with the hard to pronounce German names, and I'm not going to try to bullshit you by Googling them and pretending that they are all travelling companions of mine. Anyone who can trot out a list of characters like that gets my vote in the intelligence stakes every time. Maybe I'll have to pull my horns in occasionally and try to recognise the humour in some of the things I come across. With my personal history of getting into scrapes when sticking up for the less fortunate it's become second nature now. Best wishes to you and your dad and kind regards from Mohammad Salim.
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Thanks Mohammad. To be honest, I did have to wiki some of the names to get the correct spellings so you'll have to subtract some intelligence points for that.
It's been nice chatting with you.
Regards,
B
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That is probably one of the most ignorant things I've read in a while. Even if you don't like the church or share their beliefs, you could at least try to sound like you're older than twelve in your criticisms. You act like the pope BOUGHT all that stuff for himself, when most of what you talk about doesn't even actually belong to the pope.
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I'm glad to be a beacon of ignorance in your otherwise enlightened life.
So let me get this straight, your argument is that the Pope can dismiss the importance of money because the riches and worldly comforts that surround him are given to him, not paid for with money that he would have had to earn by doing something useful to society? Now I'm clear, thanks for educating me.
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Typical nothing post, you toss your eggs at others, do nothing of substance for anyone. What was that? Let him without sin cast the first stones?
You are too pious to see that while you toss at the Pope because he does not do what you want or think he should do, you have never built, nor attained anything to do nearly what even lessor people have accomplished.
Posting how you disagree with someone is easy... now go WORK, and do better than those you criticise, then, and only then will you have merit.
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OK, what kind of work do you suggest? Are we talking about finding a cure for aids, cancer, stupidity, and other such plagues to humanity or are you just saying I need to get any job, like being a fry-guy at McDonalds? Or maybe you are suggesting that I start a revolution? Please clearify this, John so that I can finally make something of myself. Perhaps you could share with us the WORK that you do to be better than me, other than throwing eggs that is.
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