As stated many times....Religion is a Mafia organization

[VileKyle]

I prefer...

Good for you, dear

An asshole is an asshole is an asshole.

Religion has nothing to do with it.

Power, on the other hand, has a lot to do with it.

[Pix]

I'm a proud Catholic, I love my religion and I don't think it's a mafia organisation.

Sure, there are rotten apples but the Church plays an essential role in our society - not just spiritual but material, as well (the Catholic Church is the world champion of charities).

There are also countless cases of teachers that abuse their students, I don't see anyone calling the public school a mafia organisation or a nest of pedophiles.

Does your school aid and abet those teachers so they get away with it and secretly transfer them to other schools (and intentionally making it difficult to find where teachers had gone to) so they can do it again on the unsuspecting? If not then it doesn't compare to the Catholic Church.

Another problem with the comparison is that the Papacy (despite continual lawsuits) are rolling in cash, living like a boss. Some would point out that you can't serve God and Mammon (the latter being lust and greed), and therefore they can't worship God (at least not at the top levels who determine policy for the rest, even if there's a lot of passive aggressive resistance against it by low ranking clergy, nuns, and worshipers alike).

[southbiochem]

Meh. I live in a Catholic dominated area right now. They're generally nice people (like anyone else, really), so I feel no ill will towards them. They don't bother me and I don't bother them. I see no reason to start being an asshole about it.

I am glad to hear some Catholic predominant areas are free of their most detrimental influence

Then again your country is one big secular haven, and irrelevant patches of Catholicism here and there will have little influence.

The situation is largely different in many other places where the Catholic Church is a predominant power (even when State-Church separation exists)

I'm afraid that the Authorities of the Church and mostly the Catholic Politicians are not done spreading their oligarchic/racist/elitist detrimental influence. The average Catholic might not attack you to your face but he/she will go vote for those politicians that once illegalized what you and I are. They will be glad to hear everytime the Bishop bashes a dead gay man.

I swear the Catholic Church is the worst thing Spain and Portugal brought here.

[VileKyle]

predominant power

This is what I was saying in my last post, and we should agree right here. Power is what will corrupt, and yes, the main Catholic church has had too much power for too long. My other point, though, is where I ultimately disagree with you. It is not the religious aspect of it that causes that corruption, and the fact that someone is religious does not make them any better or worse than the person next to them. It is no different here in the States than it is in the rest of the world.

[mbennet35]

yay for more people bashing each other. just what I came to this forum for

[jimcrackcorn]

There are several religious organizations who "Bash" my husband and I because we are married. They say we are evil and trying to destroy the sanctity of marriage. Some of these religious organizations say we (LGBT people) will incur the wrath of God who will destroy the United States in an angry fit.

The Catholic Church & the Southern Baptist are both anti-gay and push their discriminatory agenda thru the political system and ballot box.

Not all religious organizations are bad. But,,,,, some are, and they are powerful.

[southbiochem]

Power is what will corrupt, and yes, the main Catholic church has had too much power for too long.

Agreed

It is not the religious aspect of it that causes that corruption, and the fact that someone is religious does not make them any better or worse than the person next to them.

Much Agreed

It is no different here in the States than it is in the rest of the world.

Have you been out and about predominantely Catholic Latin America?

I assume you haven't. Otherwise you would have noticed how much of a powerful grip the Catholic Church has over a large part of the political spectrum, the wealthy elites, the Army and society.

It is by no means the same as the US where no single religious movement has a grip over the whole country

It is no surprise to find that the more liberal societies and concurrently those who have legalized ss marriage (namely Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay) are those who received large numbers of non-Catholic European settlers in the early 1900s.

[VileKyle]

Have you been out and about predominantely Catholic Latin America?

No, and you are entirely missing my point. Power (as I've said before and you've agreed) is what has caused the corruption. Power does the same thing to any group of people, and geography does not discriminate. The difference here is that power is in different hands, and is equally corrupt. Power exists everywhere, but takes different forms. In your country, it may take the form of religion. Here, it takes the form of business. Neither are inherently evil. When power has corrupted them, they unfortunately do become fucked up. So don't blame religion as the source of the problems, no matter what country it exists in, because it (and business) can both be good in other hands.

[partis]

It depends what you think is good. I dont ever think its that good to label yourself as some holy god worshiper, whatever that god is or if your doing good or bad or nothing at all, cause lots of them will be doing nothing at all, just like most of us, living but thinking they know everthing when its a mystery and…

If a person can be religious (taking into account that religion ecompasses ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING a person can be anti-religious IM AFRAID!)

Nobody has to get hurt but a person can express there views once in a while and why not if where they live, religion has visible negative impact on there lives!

Im just not a choosen person and dont want to be an infidel around anybody, if you say that individual doesnt actually believe that, what do they believe and what are they!

[VileKyle]

It depends what you think is good. I dont ever think its that good to label yourself as some holy god worshiper, whatever that god is or if your doing good or bad or nothing at all, cause lots of them will be doing nothing at all, just like most of us, living but thinking they know everthing when its a mystery and…

If a person can be religious (taking into account that religion ecompasses ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING a person can be anti-religious IM AFRAID!)

Nobody has to get hurt but a person can express there views once in a while and why not if where they live, religion has visible negative impact on there lives!

Im just not a choosen person and dont want to be an infidel around anybody, if you say that individual doesnt actually believe that, what do they believe and what are they!

Sorry, but I couldn't make any sense out of that.