Pope Francis encourages a million Brazilians to become "athletes of Christ." - Polidicks

[QUOTE=Paramud;41621960]Has there ever actually been an attempt on the Pope's life that warranted a bullet-proof bubblemobile? [editline]oh hamburgers[/editline] Don't blame me for not knowing about this, I'm too busy collecting gas masks and copies of [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheist_Manifesto:_The_Case_Against_Christianity,_Judaism,_and_Islam][u]The Athiest Manifesto[/u][/url] to study ignorant religion.[/QUOTE] You don't know the difference between history and religion, but, oh well, so many dumb people these days who would be surprised? [QUOTE]supporting the nazis[/QUOTE] Whoa, nice, thanks for taking out of context history. Sure you have read about what happened in Germany after the fall of the Second Reich. [QUOTE]Religion does not corrupt things, people do. Religion is practiced by people.[/QUOTE] Sometimes I wonder how things so evident as this go...unnoticed. [QUOTE] he isn't some hardcore liberal that is going to bring the Church into line with modern culture [/QUOTE] If you think -anybody- will bring the Church in line with -"modern culture"- you should check out your philosophy compass, because, Church and "Modern Culture" are black and white, coca cola and pepsi, burger king and McDonalds. They will never be in line one with each other, at least, they will agree on some points BUT their justification for those points will be totally different. [QUOTE]but he is somewhat liberal by catholic pope standards.[/QUOTE] Define Liberal. As in: Guy who takes things to the street, talks to people and really follows what he believes? Yes, totally liberal in comparison with others such as benedict who were more of the intellectual kind popes. If you think he's liberal in the classical sense, allowing for more changes related to homosexuality, abortion and stuff....can't tell you how wrong you are. PS:Contraception is not a matter of faith/dogma, so its use can be totally tolerated in certain cases. [I]"Hur dur, but you got those bishops in Africa saying that condoms are the devil"[/I] [I]And you got bishops in germany saying condoms are tolerable[/I] EDIT: He was/is a jesuit ffs.

[QUOTE=Badballer;41623898]Are you forgetting about the coolest Pope ever? [/QUOTE] Is it the one that wore gold armor and had tons of orgies with young girls and boys? How about the Medici that bought the position with his banking money and had a pet elephant that he may have actually used in battle? Still, this Pope can really reform the church to start focusing on the poor instead of tradition . If he starts seriously cracking down on the pedopriests he'll take the best spot.

[QUOTE=Cutthecrap;41627293]You don't know the difference between history and religion, but, oh well, so many dumb people these days who would be surprised?[/QUOTE] Whether or not you know something doesn't mean a thing in terms of intelligence, just knowledge. What matters is whether or not you understand it. Though I don't expect you to understand the difference.

[QUOTE]Whether or not you know something doesn't mean a thing in terms of intelligence, just knowledge. What matters is whether or not you understand it. [/QUOTE] When we talk about such basic distinctions, yes, it does.

[QUOTE=Paramud;41621960]Has there ever actually been an attempt on the Pope's life that warranted a bullet-proof bubblemobile? [editline]oh hamburgers[/editline] Don't blame me for not knowing about this, I'm too busy collecting gas masks and copies of [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheist_Manifesto:_The_Case_Against_Christianity,_Judaism,_and_Islam"][U]The Athiest Manifesto[/U][/URL] to study ignorant religion.[/QUOTE] I don't know about you, but even though I'm an atheist, I would prefer this guy who does nothing but help people and encourage charity, forgiveness, good deeds and morals than an Islamic extremist who wants to subjugate women and blow people up any day.

[QUOTE=Crazy Ivan;41626388]Observe the Soviet Union. Secular state, embraced atheism ardently. Toward the end of the country's lifetime, it was plagued with internal corruption. Observe 1980's Wall street. (Not a country, I know but work with me.) Secular society, no gods or kings only profit. Rife with corruption, and the abuse of power. Religion does not corrupt things, people do. Religion is practiced by people.[/QUOTE] religion however, tends to be somewhat easier to corrupt, due to the fact that you don't really need to employ anything even closely resembling logic.

[QUOTE=Wizards Court;41630964]religion however, tends to be somewhat easier to corrupt, due to the fact that you don't really need to employ anything even closely resembling logic.[/QUOTE] Religion is a source of power like money. Power corrupts.

[QUOTE=Rangergxi;41630986]Religion is a source of power like money. Power corrupts.[/QUOTE] power doesn't corrupt, power simply reveals one true nature. and religion does that awfully well, since you can just pull stuff out of your ass and claim its "god's will".

spreading a dogma of ignorance and intolerance to the masses of countries that already have massive poverty and education problems is something i consider evil. catholics should just leave america and africa alone they've fucked it up enough

[QUOTE=Cutthecrap;41627293]words[/quote] If your perception of modern culture is McDonalds then you don't experience a lot of it.

[QUOTE=Crazy Ivan;41626388]Observe the Soviet Union. Secular state, embraced atheism ardently. Toward the end of the country's lifetime, it was plagued with internal corruption. Observe 1980's Wall street. (Not a country, I know but work with me.) Secular society, no gods or kings only profit. Rife with corruption, and the abuse of power. Religion does not corrupt things, people do. Religion is practiced by people.[/QUOTE] It was definitely not a secular state, just because people didn't believe in God, (or more like forced to not believe in God) doesn't make them secular. Most people believed in secret anyway. Atheism doesn't make people secular, being secular gives rise to atheism, not the other way. The communistic example is the worst kind in this situation.

Did anyone else see what copacabana beach looked like during the pope's visit? [img]http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/51f52aa9eab8eac12d000016-1200-2000/rtx122i6.jpg[/img] I don't know what would be worse. Choosing the wrong day to go to the beach or being mistaken for the pope every five minutes because you brought the white towel.

Where's waldo?

[QUOTE=Thom12255;41623982]I don't understand why this Pope is so popular with non-believers, the PR is really getting to you guys. I bet it would all evaporate as soon as he started condemning abortion, contraceptives, same-sex marriage etc.[/QUOTE] err... well yeah that's what support is about when you think about what you support not when you just blindly support something you change your opinions based on different facts. like a grown adult.

[QUOTE=Thom12255;41623982]I don't understand why this Pope is so popular with non-believers, the PR is really getting to you guys. I bet it would all evaporate as soon as he started condemning abortion, contraceptives, same-sex marriage etc.[/QUOTE] Oh my God you're right. I'm so stupid for not blindly hating someone because they're different from me despite evidence to believe that said person has a lot of knowledge to impart.

popemobile is just an awesome name