Benedict XVI seriously annoys me!

yeah, we talked about this a few days ago in http://www.emptyclosets.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21985

As of the future and acceptance within the church, I believe the Catholic Church is less of a "all gays are going to hell and we should burn them" type of Protestant or Islamic fundamentalism. They will accept gays in the church...of course you aren't allowed to have sex outside of marriage, and marriage is only for a man and a woman for the purpose of child-rearing, so that means gays can have no sex. So you can fit right in if you are gay and stay chaste - like many priests

 

Sometimes I wonder if the Pope realises how many people he is sentencing to death by his words...

If he's preaching abstinence only, and condemning condom use, then he is forcing HIV positive people to have unprotected sex, spreading the virus further. It is not in human nature to only have sex after marriage, with a single partner. People inevitably are going to do it, and they will be spreading the virus. In much of Africa, there is a similar stigma attached to being HIV positive as there is to being gay, so people hide it. They don't have tests. Often testing is unavailable anyway. Millions are dying, all the time because of something so easily preventable.

It is a change in attitude that is required to stop the spread of HIV, and the Pope is doing nothing to help it, which is downright irresponsible, stupid, backwards and dangerous. idiot.

 

I could argue that it's not the Pope sentencing them, it's the ignorant ones who listen, but I'm a little tired of arguing today, so I'll just link to some cartoons:





From http://friendlyatheist.com/

 

All I have to say is that I hope I age much more gracefully than he did...

I don't think sunken eyes and liver spots would suit me :/


And, slightly on topic, I hate it when people preach abstinence by saying 'The safest sex is no sex'.
Well, no sex isn't sex at all, right?

Ifso facto, there is no such thing as truly safe sex.

 

lovin' the cartoons

I wasn't meaning in the Western world, I meant in developing countries, where education about sex and its dangers is practically non-existent, apart from what religion tells them.

 

I was worried when he was canonized.

Pope John Paul the 2nd was liberal by catholic standards. I was hoping the next pope selected would continue the tradition of outreach. then they picked a far right conservative fundementalist in the church.

The church decided what it belived in hundreds of years after chirst's death. then, they began the dark ages, through persecution and constantly changing of their views, leading to more refined forms of persecution and earthly punishment against the will of divine judgement.

Tyranncies always dig their own grave. The holy see always complains of crisis of faith, but never note the fact that they are responcible for them. Disenfranchisement with the roman catholic church stems from the actions and stances of the church, not being people are losing the faith. many arent losing the faith, they are losing faith in the catholic church.

 

the pope is a fool of an old man and nobody should take him seriously. i dont care how much 'education' he has, he lacks the basics: common sence. and tell him to kiss his own ring for a change.

 

When is he going to die? He looks like a living corpse.

 

I don't care if he is the pope; it's just plain stupid to denounce condom use anyplace, let alone somewhere where AIDS is more common and his homophobia is absolutely appalling. Way to set an example, your holiness. :rolleyes:

 

I saw a photo of him in the paper today, and, well...

Sunken eyes, staring up from under furrowed eyebrows; a smile on his face that suggested something quite weak and sickly. His skin looks like it's falling off his bones, almost diseased. He's carried in state on that ridiculous milk cart; ill-gotten wealth dripping off him in a stark statement of what those he condemns are not, and never will be, afforded.
Despite the seemingly amiable wave and grin, he is separated from the people who so fervently worship him - God forbid that a member of this ungodly mass should see him, not as the Pope, but as a man; a servant of God, rather than an incarnation, with emotion and whatever humanity and independence is left in his whitewashed brain.

In fairness, I don't really believe that he's malicious. It amused me greatly how frankly satanic he looks in this picture, no doubt chosen for that very quality; my real opinion of him is that he is a sockpuppet, whose crime is not hatred or malice, but simply self-absorbed neglect of the use of his facility for rational thought. But the photo gave me a good giggle

 

ghandi said it best; Love christ, hate chirstians.

I still call myself a christian. I just choose not to latch onto all the things jesus rejected from the old testiment which are being used by christians who are christians only in name, not in deed, to feel superior, and to persecute others to feel superior to them.

 

Yes, eventually they will, but not before they allow women to be priests (they will be forced to do this in the near future, I predict, because the number of priests is rapidly decreasing; they're failing to bring in many new recruits. They're shooting themselves in the foot by overlooking half the population). But in the end they will accept homosexuality as normal, just like they finally admitted the world was round a couple years ago.

 

No. The only gay-friendly Christians I've run into are the ones who already lean on the free love, God is peachy, "spiritual" ones anyway. For an institution that still views people as "having homosexual tendencies" instead of being homosexual, who still think it's a deep psychological disorder, who think that everyone can be reformed into heterosexuality if given enough fear tactics and physical pain and meds...no.

 

One day the catholic church WILL accept homosexuality.

One of a few things will happen at some point, maybe far in the future maybe not...

1) They dont accept it and they cease to exist.

2) They accept it and more forward as a church.

3) Science proves them wrong and that leads to 1 or 2.

I personally think 3 will happen and lead to 2, but who knows. Cause they will NOT be able to survive as a homophobic group in 50-100 years. If a church preached "Blacks are going to hell! Blacks are lesser people!" in todays culture? They would be stepped on like a bug, a small bug that is the minority in there thinking.

 

Okay guys, I think you guys aren't too knowledgeable about Catholicism. I've been Catholic all my life, went to a Catholic High School and studied about all this stuff.

Catholics are actually pretty accepting of homosexuals, and other LGBT peoples. Technically they say sexual acts between the same sexes are sins but I think they know something would have to happen in any relationship. Like this goes the same with abstinence till Marriage, sure they'd love for you to do it, but they know 99% of the people won't. Its more of a guideline, at least that's how I feel.

Catholics don't see homosexuals as sinners at all, they understand it ISNT a choice and that its not easy and everything, unlike other churches.

There is nothing I can say or do to get you to believe what I say is true at all, because most of you already are adamant in your beliefs, which is fine. I respect whatever beliefs you guys have about anything. I just know what I know. Do I like Pope Benedict XVI? honestly not too much. Was Pope John Paul II a great pope? Yeah but he's not around anymore obviously. I don't know. I just hate to see so much hating going on. And even if you say, well they're the ones who are hating on us, maybe you could be the better person and not do the same back?

Don't make assumptions about something you don't know about.

 

^ Very well stated. I tried to highlight a few of your points in my earlier post, but you've done a much better job of showing where the church stands. I don't agree with their ideas about homosexuality and a lot of other things. And I especially don't support the conservatism of the current pope. But there is a lot of ignorance in some of these posts in relation to LGBTs and Catholicism.

 

If this was anyone else on the street saying half the things Pope Benedict has said, we'd all consider them a lunatic, however because he's the "Pope" he somehow believes his opinion is entitled to something worthy.

 

I've NEVER seen anyone so ignorant in my life.