Unmasking Catholicism: What Lies Behind the Public Image?

[Óttar]

http://books.google.com/books?id=oe5...age&q=&f=false
Backs up my assertion that Catholicism is essentially a cabal set up by Emperor Constantine for the sake of political power and hegemony.

[Eldritch]

All organised religions are about wealth, power and influence in the here and now.

[Anthropos]

All organised religions are about wealth, power and influence in the here and now.

This is a peculiar statement. Why do you single out religion? Would you say that organised psychology and psychiatry are any less about wealth, power and influence in the here and now?

[Fred]

This is a peculiar statement. Why do you single out religion? Would you say that organised psychology and psychiatry are any less about wealth, power and influence in the here and now?

I'd say it is the absence of religion which concerns itself with wealth, power and influence in the here and now.

All organised religions are about wealth, power and influence in the here and now.

Au contraire--they are about the immaterial side of the coin to the material.

http://books.google.com/books?id=oe5...age&q=&f=false
Backs up my assertion that Catholicism is essentially a cabal set up by Emperor Constantine for the sake of political power and hegemony.

Constantine already had that and even more. He had the people worship him, or him in the afterlife. He changed his mind. Come now, do you believe that this is what Julian the Apostate believed?

Why would Catholicism be any less legitimate a religion to follow, than Protestantism, specificially endowed with laws to subordinate beneath the State? The Pope at least, treats the rulers of the world with a fatherly hand. They cannot do so to Catholicism, for only obsequious Protestantism takes this cue from the secular and temporal.

(EDIT: Material success is a sign of God's grace in Calvinistic eyes, while Luther was the real statist.)

The shoe is on the other foot. If it fits, wear it!

[Eldritch]

This is a peculiar statement. Why do you single out religion? Would you say that organised psychology and psychiatry are any less about wealth, power and influence in the here and now?

I'm not singling religion out. Many other human endeavours are about wealth and power too -- you could say most of them are. Nor am I saying that that is all there is to religion.

[Trencavel]

The catholic church has several different orders. The benedictine order takes care of the money while the dominican order lives almost in complete poverty.

This is just an example.

[Trencavel]

Check this out ! Page 23 - Hunting "Heretics"

Some Cathoic doctrines conflict with the plain meaning of Scripture. As a result, people who read the Bible for themselves are likely to doubt or dispute those doctrines. One way of solving that problem is to prevent laymen from reading the Bible. The Catholic Church took that approach for hundreds of years.

[Poltergeist]

Old fashioned Protestant-style pseudo-moralizing and pseudo-evagelicalism (cult of sola scriptura aka fanatical Bibliolatry). Nothing special.

Also mistaking some superficial manifestations of Catholic habits and customs, as well as acts and (mis)deeds of some popes, with the essence of Catholic Christianity. Which is a grave error.

A virulent attack upon images, eucharist and mysticism indicates that the author would find also Eastern Orthodox Christianity (as well as other off-shots of eastern Christianity) as repulsive as Roman Catholicism.

This kind of Protestant fundamentalism, with its almost Gnostic horror of anything material as far as connection with God goes (eg. eucharist etc), its stressing of total detachment of man from God (man is totally corrupt, with no goodness left, due to "original sin"), its fanatical insistance on blind faith and its parrot-like repetition that man is saved by faith alone (while deeds are useless), is a truly weird and unsavoury phenomenon. From my own experience with such worldview, I came to reject it completely, deeming it to be far from any truth. Because it contradicts both heart and mind.

I say "Protestant fundamentalism" on purpose, because I am aware that Protestantism is a huge and vast phenomenon with many denominations and many theological views, a very mixed bag, so I don't want to cast everything into the same category.

Not that some wrongs done by certain members of the Catholic hierarchy throughout centuries aren't worth criticizing (on the contrary), but not from this point of view.

[Fred]

Old fashioned Protestant-style pseudo-moralizing and pseudo-evagelicalism (cult of sola scriptura aka fanatical Bibliolatry). Nothing special.

Also mistaking some superficial manifestations of Catholic habits and customs, as well as acts and (mis)deeds of some popes, with the essence of Catholic Christianity. Which is a grave error.

A virulent attack upon images, eucharist and mysticism indicates that the author would find also Eastern Orthodox Christianity (as well as other off-shots of eastern Christianity) as repulsive as Roman Catholicism.

This kind of Protestant fundamentalism, with its almost Gnostic horror of anything material as far as connection with God goes (eg. eucharist etc), its stressing of total detachment of man from God (man is totally corrupt, with no goodness left, due to "original sin"), its fanatical insistance on blind faith and its parrot-like repetition that man is saved by faith alone (while deeds are useless), is a truly weird and unsavoury phenomenon. From my own experience with such worldview, I came to reject it completely, deeming it to be far from any truth. Because it contradicts both heart and mind.

I say "Protestant fundamentalism" on purpose, because I am aware that Protestantism is a huge and vast phenomenon with many denominations and many theological views, a very mixed bag, so I don't want to cast everything into the same category.

Not that some wrongs done by certain members of the Catholic hierarchy throughout centuries aren't worth criticizing (on the contrary), but not from this point of view.

For those whom are actually listening to the rebuttal, you know, with an open mind...Saltimbanque is basically elaborating on my own position above.