Because we are only fighting Muslims...

[Sirc]

...who would take away our free speech and free thought and have us be sheep to their agenda and control.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/11/22/kennedy.abortion/index.html


Guess again.

[Nitro]

Dogmatic religion is an evolutionary deadend and people such as that bishop demonstrate why. Projecting negativity and hostility will eventually lose to the power of the opposite and I think when it is all said and done, humanity will wonder how it could have been so ignorant and immature in the first place.

[Goober]

(edited everything I had to say against abortion to keep on topic)

Now, about Mr. Kennedy. The Catholic religion didn't just start condeming abortion in the last few years. It has held this stance since 137AD or sooner. I can't see why anyone is suprised about this.
It's just like society, if you want to be a member of any society there are certain rules (laws) you have to abide by. If you chose to break them, then you can and will be punished. Mr Kennedy wants to be a Catholic but promotes one of the things that the Church is completely against, therefore he gets punished.

[PJ'l_Master]

(edited everything I had to say against abortion to keep on topic)

Now, about Mr. Kennedy. The Catholic religion didn't just start condeming abortion in the last few years. It has held this stance since 137AD or sooner. I can't see why anyone is suprised about this.
It's just like society, if you want to be a member of any society there are certain rules (laws) you have to abide by. If you chose to break them, then you can and will be punished. Mr Kennedy wants to be a Catholic but promotes one of the things that the Church is completely against, therefore he gets punished.


Having only read the title of that article, what an awesome response for a red neck! :) <3 goober!

[JIMINATOR]

the problem you have is that some people think they "own" god, and they "own" the path to him, and for that reason they can dictate how and what you have to do in order to get to god. That is why our religions are so fractured today. They all claim to be the way to god, and hey, if you don't like it, join another religion, or if enough people agree with you, make your own.

[Nitro]

the problem you have is that some people think they "own" god, and they "own" the path to him, and for that reason they can dictate how and what you have to do in order to get to god. That is why our religions are so fractured today. They all claim to be the way to god, and hey, if you don't like it, join another religion, or if enough people agree with you, make your own.

Most Eastern religions do *not* teach this. It is almost exclusively the Western religious philosophy that proclaims this. As I see it, thousands of years ago there were two civilizations that had two different philosophies and the western one gave way to the western religions and the eastern one to the eastern religions.

[Goober]

I don't have a problem Jim, and I sure don't own God. Yes, The God that the Catholics believe in is the same God the Protestants, Muslims and Jews believe in. They all have different ideas of how to reach him. I prefer my method although that may not be the way others believe.
That however is a completely different topic from what Sirc started. He was talking about free speech and control to which I thought I gave an reasonably intelligent answer that defended the churches position.

I'm curious Nitro.....what 2 groups are you refering to?

To Sirc.....I really hate that factor you're refering to, but it does exist. We should all agree to disagree, and have civilized debates like this one.

[Sirc]

the problem you have is that some people think they "own" god, and they "own" the path to him, and for that reason they can dictate how and what you have to do in order to get to god. That is why our religions are so fractured today. They all claim to be the way to god, and hey, if you don't like it, join another religion, or if enough people agree with you, make your own.

Agreed. There is also a definite "if you're not with us, you're against us" factor in nearly every religion. Some worse than others, but it's there to some degree.

And as Jim pointed out, just the fact that you can ask someone which religion they follow proves that there is no one true religion (to an unbiased observer). Logically, that sort of undermines the whole concept of being on the right path to anything.

Goober was right, religion is very much a society. A social gathering of people who have (to varying degrees) decided that their own values fit with whatever rules a particular religion promotes. And you get to belong to a group - very important for many people since we are basically social animals by nature.

[Sirc]

I don't have a problem Jim, and I sure don't own God. Yes, The God that the Catholics believe in is the same God the Protestants, Muslims and Jews believe in. They all have different ideas of how to reach him. I prefer my method although that may not be the way others believe.
That however is a completely different topic from what Sirc started. He was talking about free speech and control to which I thought I gave an reasonably intelligent answer that defended the churches position.

Yes, you did give a good answer. And it made me pause and think.

However, again, I have to say that binding one's self to a religious belief system necessarily puts restrictions on free thought. That is a form of control. Then again Kennedy can abandon his religious beliefs if he wishes. But then he will be damned to hell, won't he? Tough call.