UKC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7796663.stm

Difficult to change their spots.

In reply to Removed User: Although Pope Ratslinger did say some positive things about Galileo at the weekend; those spots have been changed. So give it another 400 years...

T.

In reply to Removed User:
Particularly like the rhetoric:

Being gay's fine as long as you don't do gay things... all about platonic love and that, like anybody else then.

And what about the long exterior and interior path thingy... sounds like he copied some one liners from Janis Joplin or Kerouac to me.

I am unashamedly a lapsed religious person and a lapsed catholic, and this type of discourse will do nothing short of making hate the institutions even more.

Catholicism has not managed to get a hold on Europe for so long without using dictatorship techniques. There have been a few attempts at doing things differently, some managed to get themselves roasted (cathares) and others seemed well under way into making a go at it until they got caught up by Institutionalism which is my view on Protestantism when I discuss it with fellow Atheists.

Now again, each to his/her own. Or more to the point each to his/her Dogma.
Mine is that it Has to be white to use spikes

In reply to Removed User: He does have a point though. I mean people have only been gay in the last 30 years so clearly the church is in great moral threat.

In reply to Removed User:

He needs to be a bit careful, a good purge on homosexuals will leave him with a few less priests.

In reply to Removed User:

Would you let a 9 year old fix the engines on your holiday jet?

so why would you take life advice from an unmarried octagenarian virgin?

In reply to Nevis-the-cat:

not aimed at Bobt btw

In reply to Removed User:

I am a bit puzzled by this one, a friend in Italy has said that the Pope has not mentioned homosexuality at all and that the furore is about gender reassignment surgery. I wonder if there is an official translation somewhere. Spoiled all my carefully prepared jokes that did...

In reply to Removed User: All the Abrahamic religions are down on homosexuality. I can't understand why people expect these very dated belief systems to smoothly align themselves with modern western secular attitudes. If they started to do that they would loose what power they do have.

In reply to Removed User:

Surely the best way to save the planet is to keep the population down?

Accodring to my figures, compulsory homosexuality for about 30% of people would work best.

If we could convince them it was god's will, this would also weed out the least intelligent from the gene pool

In reply to Nevis-the-cat:

False analogy. At least the nine year-old is likely to enter into the task with an open mind and admit that she might have made things worse afterwards.

In reply to trevor simpson:

:oD

In reply to trevor simpson:

Or maybe even letting Catholics use condoms

In reply to Removed User:

Surely this is just Displacement? Sounds like the old boy is gagging for a hot stiff cock.

In reply to winhill: That made me laugh! How do you know he's not getting it?

In reply to wayno265:

Let me guess.You think Jonathan Ross is cutting edge comedy?
Merry Christmas

In reply to Postmanpat:

Right back atcha!

In reply to Removed User: Whats your point? Is homosexuality not an unnatural act?

In reply to Ian Black:
It seems to me that there are two points here
1) For some people homosexuality is not an "unnatural" act.

2)Of all the subjects that a Pope could choose to raise at Christmas in a year of such momentous change this one seems spectacularly irrelevant.(assuming he has been reported accurately)

In reply to Removed User:

The catholic church? What a bunch of freaks!

Frocks, no women, shagging little boys, gay priests, ex-Nazi Pope, ...


Pot ... kettle ... black?

Glass houses ... stones?


The man is an idiot.

In reply to Jim Fraser:
Havn't you rather missed the point? Isn't that the reason he is condemning it ?

In reply to Jim Fraser:

Scotsmen? What a bunch of freaks!

Frocks, Buckfast swigging, fried mars bar eating, secterian biggots...

ect ect

(wandering whether to add a smiley but I'm sure you get the idea)

In reply to Postmanpat:

What point?

Are you saying that huge swathes of humanity need to be demonised because the god squad need to clean up their own act?

Bigots always muddle matters of sexuality and gender and tend to carry the ignorant with them. I think that is one of the things that is happening in this case.

At one extreme of that muddle there have been paedophiles in the priesthood taking advantage of their privileged position and at the other extreme there are intersexed persons whose existence blurs the widely-assumed clarity of human gender. The former need to be punished, and latter, like so many on a vaste spectrum in between, deserve an ordinary level of respect and care.

In reply to Papillon:


Negotiations to sell Glasgow to the Americans have broken down due to the Madoff affair and recessionary pressures.

In reply to Jim Fraser:
That he is giving a message to his own priesthood and the Catholic faithful that the priesthoods previous acts will not be tolerated.Just a thought.

Well,see my previous post ,clearly not.

In reply to Postmanpat:

Wouldn't it be clearer to just say, "child abuse will no longer be tolerated" if that's his covert message?

Looking on the bright side, it must be a liberating experience for lots of ex-Catholics ... any lingering doubt evaporating, as the world leader proves himself a complete and utter imbecile.

In reply to gingerkate:
Besides which, if that were his covert message, linking homosexuality to child abuse would be pretty offensive (and inaccurate) in its own right.

Perhaps the Pope is responding to looney evangelist Pat Robertson's criticism of him a few months ago, as reported in the Daily Mash:
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/international/televangelist-challenges-p...

In reply to gingerkate:
Yup.

In reply to Removed User:

I think you people are being jolly unfair to the Catholic Church! I mean, Tony Blair, our ex prime minister has recently joined.....

I'll get my coat.

In reply to deepsoup:
Yes that's true.

B has just pointed out to me that the pope is a very old man, so I suppose I was being a bit harsh, but for someone with such extensive influence to target a section of humanity that is already picked on and vilified in many countries of the world is so frustrating.

In reply to Postmanpat:

No it's much more than that.

He is saying that other people's immoral acts affect the rest of society.

This is very different from the traditional western liberal view of morality that people should do their own thing so long as it doesn't impact on anyone else.

From this religious point of view immorality impacts humanity as a whole and not preventing it may stop religious people from pleasing God.

This is arguing the case for stopping immorality per se, rather than the immediate results of the immoral acts.

It is an argument for theocracy. Dispicable all the same.

In reply to gingerkate: As ever, oh wise ginger one, you are right. Merry Christmas!

In reply to Jim Fraser:






I don't think this is just a problem within the Catholic Church. Boys brigade leaders, Scout masters, Teachers, Foster parents, and the list goes on. All these types have been found to be abusing their position and subjecting children to horrific abuse. It does seem to attract more publicity when a member of the clergy is involved.

In reply to Ian Black:

No, I'm not having that.

There are always individuals who abuse their access to children. They should be caught and punished whenever it comes to light. My experience was in the Scout Association; I know of only one case in the 14 years I was a leader and it was dealt with promptly and very seriously.

But the church has a long, disgusting record of covering up and protecting abusers, and in the worst cases allowing them to continue their abuse long after their seniors found out.

And also consider the facilitating effect of indoctrinating children in the belief that they are inherently 'sinful'; and I think it is a problem for the Catholic Church.

In reply to KeithW:





I can assure you folk in these organisations have been abusing their position for decades. The reason why some of them want to work with minors, is to fuel their own perversions. I agree it does seem to be rife within the Catholic church, but its by no means exclusive.