Old Habits

[jchrisobrien]

Vatican says AIDS can slip through a condom

(I can't send any mail today, so I'm talking about this here).

I don't know why I get so bent out of shape when people knock the Church. In the Church's eyes, I'm not a good Catholic at all. I disagree with a lot of the proclamations of the Church, but I still think I follow the teachings in the Bible. The moment I hear people slamming the Church however, my hackles raise. The question is, why?

Part of that no doubt stems from my old beliefs about the Church. I was very devout all through high school. I actually liked reading the Bible (okay, mainly Revelations). I had a very active imagination, and love thinking about the angels and the War in Heaven and the Nephilim. The Old Testament can totally read like a fantasy novel (some would say that it is. ha ha ha.). I really believed in Good and Evil, and the Church and the angels were on the side of Good.

After reading lots of history, and growing more exposed to life, I came to see that the Church was made of people, who are good and bad. The Church became an institution, and fell prey to corruption and greed and all the things you'd associate with any organization. I thought that the priests would follow their beliefs and since they were the examples for the rest of us, they would follow their own rules. Some of them did. Some of them didn't.

The other thing that bugs me, is the double standard. A lot of faiths believe in abstinence, and find promiscuity a sin. It's not purely a Christian or Catholic thing. Other faiths are just as puritanical, some even more so. But GOD FORBID you say anything bad about Judaism or Islam w/out being labeled a bigot. Why is it okay to talk shit about the Catholic church and not Islam, or Buddhist monks, or Judaism? Oh, the Vatican is evil, they have done horrible things, they should be locked away. No one bats an eye. Now change the Vatican to a sect of Judaism, or the ruling body there. See how quickly you get called a bigot or racist.

The quick and easy answer is to not let it get to me. I am not the Vatican, I do think that telling people not to use condoms because they don't stop AIDS is irresponsible. (*) An attack on Catholicism is not an attack on the people who practice it.

Or is it?

(*) The Church could have avoided a lot of misrepresentation if they had said, condoms reduce the risk of getting AIDS, but they don't prevent it all together. If you want to avoid getting AIDS, don't have sex period. But instead, they make a stupid statement making them look like idiots.

Comments

[eeyrg.livejournal.com]

Both buddhist and judaic religions are also not established as a Higher Than Government Power that is widely accepted throughout the world. Certainly buddhists and jews are NOT keeping clergy who are guilty of crime out of jail nor are they paying off the victims. Neither are they publishing in the media about sexuality, abortion, or just in general what the 'sin of the moment' is. That article is careless and irresponsible. They are a huge ruling body. I'm sorry but I don't see that as religion, I see that as dictating and instilling fear into people. the church is the center of media attention for lots of reasons, sadly, most of the reasons are not good ones.

as for the difference between the attack on people vs attack on church...

i think this is why i said if i ever had children i'd like them to grow up and choose their own religion, should they choose to have one. i think perhaps choosing a religion is much like picking a name brand of a product you use. it's all in how it suits you, if it suits you at all...

i don't fault you or anyone else for being catholic or any other religion. i fault the way the church represents itself and truthfully, i would question you if you lived your life exactly they told you to, if you did. i'd simply want to know if you yourself believed your guidance or if you were merely following the rules out of a sense of obligation.

[alonewiththemoon]

Certainly buddhists and jews are NOT keeping clergy who are guilty of crime out of jail nor are they paying off the victims

er, I don't know about that... a fellow graduate student stayed at a monastary in China while doing his anthropological fieldwork, and those buddhists monks were no saints. I think people are people, no matter what religion they are, and power is corrupting.

[atalanta.livejournal.com]

agreed on people and power.

[silas7.livejournal.com]

The Church did become a major power in the world, and has paid the price for it. That is, they mixed politics and religion and became a tyrranical organization in the Middle Ages. While they have toned that down considerably in the 20th century, the mindset is still there.

Don't rabbis publish about the evils going on the world? They may not do it as much as Catholics do, I'll admit. And I'm sure there are perverts in the synagogues, temples, and mosques just like there are here. I can't believe that the Catholic Church is the only religion that has pedophiles in it.

The article IS irresponsible. The Church just can't get it through their heads that people may not listen to them about abstinance. Their refusal to acknowledge other methods of birth control is appalling.

If I said I followed the Church exactly as they told me too, I doubt I'd have many friends left. *grin*

[eeyrg.livejournal.com]

Don't rabbis publish about the evils

You said 'Church' :)
There will always be renegades.... :)

And no, some Rabbi last year got busted for pedophilia....


Sinner :-p