Letters to the Editor
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I don't get Catholics who say...
"I'm a Catholic, but...I like these authors the Church condemns; I'm pro-choice; I practice birth control; I'm not against premarital sex; I don't observe Lent; I don't go to church. I believe in the Sacred Feminine"
There's no such thing as an agnostic Catholic. Catholocism is strictly a religion, not also a culture (like, say, Judaism). If you're not all in, you're not Catholic! How anybody can remain a Catholic after all the abuse scandals is beyond me. The Church *is* the religion. Otherwise, you're nothing more than Protestants.
Donna, you're not a Catholic.
P.S. I'm an atheist. The rest of you Christians are all nuts, too. And Muslims, into the bargain. I'm okay with the Jews on a case by case basis.
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Re: Catholic Mom
"Is my explanation adequate? Can you be respectful of the choice of intelligent, tolerant people to raise their children the way I am raising mine?"
Since you ask....honestly, I have to say no. I don't understand what you mean about "having nothing to choose BETWEEN." If you teach your children about many different religions (and the fact that some people are not religious at all), they will have a buffet of choices. Nor do I understand the need to instill a "seed of faith." I think being human means having the capacity for faith (but in the interest of full disclosure, I don't necessarily consider that a good thing). And I think that it's entirely possible to teach a child to live morally and flourish as a human being without also teaching that they must believe in a particular doctrine to do so.
I understand that you think the teachings of your church are true. That doesn't make them any more comprehensible to a child, though. To go back to like politics...I'm very passionate about my political beliefs. But teaching a kid about abortion, for example? Bringing them to protests or counter-protests, with a sign or a message on a t-shirt? This sort of thing makes a lot of people cringe. They see it as exploitation. Yet for some reason, they're not bothered about doing the same with religion.
Here's something else I can understand: I can understand that the things you consider most meaningful, most profoundly true, you want to pass on to the ones you love. I just think that when this includes such complex ideas as the origin of the universe and morality, what happens after death and before you're born, even why people don't all believe alike concerning these issues (meaningful and profound as they might be)....well, those are topics with which PhDs wrestle daily. But from what most children are taught, you wouldn't know it.
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P.S.
When I said I can't be respectful of your choice, I meant that I can't quite respect the choice itself. Of course I respect your right to make it. Just wanted to clarify (since some actually do not respect this right...).
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@aeschylus
You say you're "ok with the Jews, on a case by case basis." Given your own atheism, can we assume then that you're ok with those Jews who, like your cherry-picking Catholics, don't really buy the program and, in fact, in many cases, claim to be atheists?
God, how I love it when a person shows up, identifies himself first as a Jew and second as an atheist. This somehow make more sense to you than a Catholic who chooses to think? I mean, being a Catholic is not an ethnic condition, it is being a member of something larger than one's self, an organization, for better or worse. Judaism, on the other hand, is largely congenital is it not? Oh sure, I suppose one could convert to Judaism, and then proclaim himself an atheist, thus getting the best? Worst? of all possible worlds.
Seriously, can you address this for me? It's been a fly in my soup for ages. I understand cherry-picking Catholics better than non-believing Jews.
Or is there something else you find attractive about Jews in general? I'd love to hear about that, too.
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@AJCalhoun
The reason I said I'm okay with the Jews is mainly due to the fact that, historically, they haven't been that big on inquisitions and jihads and coming to my house uninvited to give me pamphlets about God. I said "on a case by case basis" because some of the Jews I've met were, alas, assholes. But the same could be said for (say) pharmacists. You have to take the good with the bad, I guess.
Jewishness does often have an ethnic component that I am not qualified to define, but it's there. I have no idea what Martin Landau's religious leanings are, for instance, but I'll hazard a guess that most who've seen him would say he's a Jew. So "Jew" isn't necessarily a religious tag. "Atheist Jew," therefore, isn't contradictory.
And I don't want to get into a thing, but if you're Catholic, then no: you're *not* allowed to think (that's true of all Abrahamic religions, no?). The tenets of the religion were decided by God and the Church hierarchy. That's what Catholics signed up for. So the cherry picking makes no sense to me. It's like taking the Ten Commandments and retitling them the Ten Suggestions; and then pruning the list down to six. Either get with the program or pick another religion. I actually had a Catholic coworker who still adhered to the no-meat-on-Friday thing, but was totally unembarrassed about living in sin with another man and having his bastard child. WTF?
As for what I find attractive about Jews in general? I dunno. They're good with numbers. They've produced a lot of comic luminaries. That Einstein guy was pretty smart. And potato pancakes. I like potato pancakes. Happy Hannukah!
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Golden Compass judgement
Are the naysayers trying to tell us of a loving God or a judging and condemning one? And which are they showing us by example? This mark of desparation gets an eye-roll from me.
Wasn't there the same fuss over Harry Potter? I vaguely recall of such. To tell you the truth, all this press just may attract a larger audience.
So, if I see the movie, do I get branded a heretic? Do I get ex-communicated? Do I need to show up at confession and confess that I saw the movie? Are we putting this new sin before gluttony and after vanity on the list?
I suppose all fantasy movies are heretical. I bet even the great Lord of the Ring trilogy may have also had some stones thrown at it.
At some point it will be a crime to even think any creative thoughts. If these ultra conservatives could go around with 'thought citations', duly taxing and condemning us for any and all creativity, I am sure they would.
You know, Galileo was called a heretic. I suppose we are indeed in good company after all.
-C