[BNW] Covenant, pt2

["g. m." <gm1970@hotmail.com>]

More for the grist mill:

[snip]
   > The Church was in an unenviable position. There was no love lost 
between
   > any of the religious leaders and the Nazi Party. What did the Pope (and
   > other church leadership of all faiths) do? They dealt with the devil to
   > preserve something. It was not the most heroic stance by any means but
   > probably the most realistic.

   Yep, and it helped almost nothing. I'm really sorry, but there are 
certain
   professions of whose members one has to expect a bit more, that have to 
have
   higher moral standards. For example: While I could show mercy about minor 
illegal
   or immoral things when done by a "normal" citizen, like minor tax fraud, 
speeding
   or cheating on your wife, I would not accept such behaviour, when the 
offender is
   a judge. Therefore: When You are a Priest or Pope, You do NOT deal with 
the
   devil. It's your fucking job to fight him.
   I mean, these christian professionals consider themselves moral 
institution. So,
   if the only morally acceptable option is to fight evil, they have to do 
so.

   [snip]
   > Also, we have to look at the Catholic Church from its perspective. It
   > has a very checkered past but again, what religion doesn't. They also 
feel
   > under siege from many quarters. In regions were the Catholic Church is
   > dominant, prejudice against other religions happens. The reverse is 
also
   > true, though. I personally have heard rants by acquaintances attacking 
the
   > Church because its rituals are different from their own. I've heard 
long
   > ramblings about the corruption of the Church and how the Pope is the
   > antichrist. The Church is no more or less corrupt than any other 
institution
   > but these attacks continue to happen. Is the Church completely pure or
   > completely evil? It is neither, just an institution with its view on 
the
   > world that it wishes to push. I'm sorry, but even as a (very) 
non-practicing
   > Catholic, this kind of stuff annoys the piss out of me. Having someone 
that
   > doesn't know much about the Church essentially telling me about how 
wrong my
   > religion is and using some of the more ridiculous propaganda just 
reminds me
   > of a form of Nazism. Religious debate is fine or fictional religious
   > representations (actually both are quite enjoyed) but out and out 
attacks on
   > someone's faith is a big pet peeve.

   I'm sorry, but I do not really agree on everything. I agree on the 
following:
   Ignorant attacks on another faith is just plain stupid. But fair 
criticism should
   be allowed.
   You say that the catholic church is no more or less corrupt than any 
other
   institution. Compared to what institutions: Political parties? 
Governments? The
   Mafia? Microsoft? You seem to forget that there is a major difference: 
Churches
   think of themselves as the defenders of morals and values. In such 
organizations
   corruption is just inacceptable!!! A corrupt and/or immoral church loses 
all of
   his reason to exist. This is not meant as an assault on catholicism, it's 
just my
   two cents.

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