THIS IS WHY WE NEED SEPARATION OF CHURCH & STATE.

[Newscaster]

dont do as we do, do as we say !!!!!!!
RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer , in her latest column, says Roman Catholics voting in the 2008 elections must heed church teaching when deciding which candidates and policies to support. I thought that even within religions, there is freedom of thought U.S. Bishops are quoted as say..."while the church recognizes the importance of a wide range of issues — from war to immigration to poverty — fighting abortion should be a priority." But the hell with health care and other national problems such as education, employment, etc.
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The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops overwhelmingly adopted the statement, "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship," as they ended the public sessions of their fall meeting.

The document does not recommend specific laws or candidates, and it emphasizes that "principled debate" is needed to decide which policies best promote the common good.
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American bishops have been releasing similar recommendations for Catholics before every presidential election since 1976. However, in recent years, some independent Catholics groups have been distributing their own voter booklets.
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Among them are Priests for Life and California-based Catholic Answers, which distributed material on five "nonnegotiable" issues: abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning and same-sex marriage. Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, which formed last year, issued a guide emphasizing church teachings on war, poverty and social justice. Pedophilia is NOT on the list.
The bishops urged Catholics to only use voter resources approved by the church.
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[lily]

dont do as we do, do as we say !!!!!!!
RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer , in her latest column, says Roman Catholics voting in the 2008 elections must heed church teaching when deciding which candidates and policies to support.

Didn't they do this last year with Kerry and thinking back, Kennedy?

I thought that even within religions, there is freedom of thought U.S. Bishops are quoted as say..."while the church recognizes the importance of a wide range of issues — from war to immigration to poverty — fighting abortion should be a priority." But the hell with health care and other national problems such as education, employment, etc.

Well, to be fair.....the Religious right do the same, they all want their agenda listened to.

Among them are Priests for Life and California-based Catholic Answers, which distributed material on five "nonnegotiable" issues: abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning and same-sex marriage. Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, which formed last year, issued a guide emphasizing church teachings on war, poverty and social justice. Pedophilia is NOT on the list.


What? :dizzy:

[Alonzo]

That's because there's nothing against touching little children in the bible that doesn't fall under adultery or premarital sex.

(that was supposed to be sarcastic but then I realized I really can't think of anything in the bible against pedophilia)

Though they really need to emphasis and to explain that when Jesus said "Suffer the children, and forbid them not, to come unto me" it doesn't mean what many priests think it does.

[Newscaster]

Something in the bible against pedophilia????? How about common sense, common decency, and self control. And how about making sure new priests are not gay or something like that. And I dont believe pedophilia is at all related to adultery or premarital sex. Its just a crime and a reverse collar should never be considered a protection against prosecution.

[Alonzo]

And how about making sure new priests are not gay or something like that.

Which has what to do with pedophilia?

[PatrickHenry]

Sounds like someone relates pedophilia with being gay.

I don't think there's any agreement on that.

If not, it amounts to a bias, huh?

[Newscaster]

Pedophiles can be gay or straight. In my line of work, I have come in contact with both types. Both are un-savory experiences.

[ViolaLee]

Something in the bible against pedophilia????? How about common sense, common decency, and self control. LOL!!! What do those things have to do with the bible. If there were common sense taught in the bible, the bible would have to teach that believing the bible is written by God is not using your common sense! HAHA!

And how about making sure new priests are not gay or something like that. And I dont believe pedophilia is at all related to adultery or premarital sex. Its just a crime and a reverse collar should never be considered a protection against prosecution.
Yeah, gay and pedophilia are mutually exclusive. One has nothing to do with the other.

[Alonzo]

Pedophiles can be gay or straight. In my line of work, I have come in contact with both types. Both are un-savory experiences.


The thing is though that adult sexuality is not related to pedophilia. If you have a straight man, or a gay man, who also is a pedophile that doesn't tell you what sex of children he prefers. Most male pedophiles, whether they target boys or girls, are in a relationship with the mother.

Banning homosexuals is about as effective as banning heterosexuals.

[Kizzume]

There is certainly a lot of hypocrisy in the Catholic church.

Banning gay people is about as effective as banning those who enjoy wearing mixed fibers who eat clams....

As far as how any of this relates to why religion should be removed, or "Why we need separation of church and state", I don't understand. Religious people have opinions, and they're going to have those opinions whether there's legislation against them being able to have their beliefs or not. If we disallow them to express those beliefs, I can't see things going very smoothly from that point on.

[Red Dragon]

Well you know to keep the American state to keep from becoming a theocracy we could just get rid of the state. You just another option that I am throwing out here.

[Kizzume]

I don't follow. I haven't studied anarchist theory, so I really have no idea what you're talking about.

[Newscaster]

Maybe we need separation of church and state in order to have a government that takes heed of the needs of ALL people, not just those who believe one way. Lets face it, most religions believe that large memborship rolls translate into correctness of thought and they try bringing pressure on others to believe ass they do. Thats why you need the separation.....in order to have freedom of religion, freedom of thought and all other freedoms. Anything else brings wih it brings with it power of one or two over all the rest. If you have been paying attention to the goings on in the world, you know what theocracies result in.

[Kizzume]

The line between not letting the church make its way into government and stopping people from practicing their religion is often a very fine one.

[Newscaster]

One religious hierarchy acting to prevent another group from practing the religion of its choice, is not such a fine line. Take a survey of Islamic Nations where they are ruled by the Laws of Sharia and you will see the line between that and freedom of religious is hardly a fine line....it is rather a blunt instrument mean to to keep people strictly in line. Start your survey with Saudi Arabia. Just recently, a young girl who had been gang raped, was sentenced to 60 lashes (I believe that was the number) and when her lawyer appealed the sentence, the appeal was turned down and her lashes were doubled. What was her personal crime.....riding in a car with a man not her husband and to protest to the news media about her punishment for being raped. Thats what can happen when religious zealots have free reign to do as they please.

[Kizzume]

Judging by your response, I'm not sure if you understood what I was saying.

Let me try a different angle to asking the question:

At what point does stopping religion from getting into the government become an anti-religion sort of thing? That is the line I'm talking about. For instance, when people aren't allowed to wear a cross necklace or one of those Jewish hats or a veil at a government job, doesn't that somewhat cross that line? When politicians are not allowed to say the word "god" at any time he is working--not to his employees, not in a speech--wouldn't that be crossing that line? Not that that is happening now, but there seems to be a bit of a push towards that general direction.

[moses2792796]

The problem is that the church has lost its core and now remains only to fight petty and meaningless issues and in the process make itself look stupid. On the other hand, people who continually attack it are basically kicking a dead horse, which is also quite stupid. If the priesthood was restored it would naturally take its rightful place at the top of society, unfortunately what has to occur for this to take place in the west is a complete restoration of spiritual knowledge, an unlikely event in any case.

[Kizzume]

The terms "priesthood" and "rightful place at the top of society" don't seem to go together very well from my perspective. Yeah, there would definitely have to be some magical changes in society for that to be something positive.