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The Religion Thread: A Believer-Atheist Alliance

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joecct said:
What if Corporation ABC creates a foundation under 501(c)(3) of the tax code? And contributions by the corporation to the foundation are tax deductible and the foundation itself is exempt from taxation? Conceivably ABC could lower their tax bill significantly by plowing excess profits into the foundation?

ADDENDUM: I've been criticized in other threads about my posting of Pat Buchanan columns. OK, if you don't like Pat, you may also have an aversion of Father George Rutler. I've listened to him on TV and wondered where he wrote his essays. Now I know. This man (priest) is not a shrinking violet that many in Holy Mother Church have turned into.

The article deals with the current state of affairs and the Catholic perspective. Some may read it and ponder its words. Others will read it and ignore it, and others won't read it because it disagrees with their thinking. Your choice.
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That's a Catholic perspective, not the Catholic perspective. Considering roughly 60% of Catholics vote for the D, the only thing in that article that can be considered a full Catholic position is its anti-abortion stance, on which the Church is unwavering. The rest is simple partisan politics disguised, as the author would put it, in sheep's clothing.
 
Re: The Religion Thread: A Believer-Atheist Alliance

Here's an interesting one: The end of the Shemitah, or Sabbath year, is soon upon us. Some will point to this as "disastrous" things happening, such as 9/11, the crash of 2008, black Monday in 1987, among other things. It somewhat coincides with the "conclusion" of Jade Helm 2015.
 
Re: The Religion Thread: A Believer-Atheist Alliance

FlagDUDE08 said:
Here's an interesting one: The end of the Shemitah, or Sabbath year, is soon upon us. Some will point to this as "disastrous" things happening, such as 9/11, the crash of 2008, black Monday in 1987, among other things. It somewhat coincides with the "conclusion" of Jade Helm 2015.
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August is also typically the time when the Mets fall out of contention. I think you're on to something here.
 
unofan said:
That's a Catholic perspective, not the Catholic perspective. Considering roughly 60% of Catholics vote for the D, the only thing in that article that can be considered a full Catholic position is its anti-abortion stance, on which the Church is unwavering. The rest is simple partisan politics disguised, as the author would put it, in sheep's clothing.
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You're thinking of the Church of Nice. Calling out sinners and sin is frowned upon these days. Fr. Ruttler, unlike his Cardinal Archbishop, is not afraid of admonishing the sinner.

That unwavering message makes people uncomfortable. Tough.
 
joecct said:
You're thinking of the Church of Nice. Calling out sinners and sin is frowned upon these days. Fr. Ruttler, unlike his Cardinal Archbishop, is not afraid of admonishing the sinner.

That unwavering message makes people uncomfortable. Tough.
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So he's comfortable being an ***. Reminds me of several priests I knew growing up. Doesn't change the fact that his position still isn't "the" Catholic perspective on anything other than abortion.
 
Re: The Religion Thread: A Believer-Atheist Alliance

joecct said:
You're thinking of the Church of Nice. Calling out sinners and sin is frowned upon these days. Fr. Ruttler, unlike his Cardinal Archbishop, is not afraid of admonishing the sinner.

That unwavering message makes people uncomfortable. Tough.
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The flip side is jerks typically think people hate them because "they can't handle the truth," when in reality it's just... they're jerks.

The Tough Guy act is tiresome enough when you run into it in business or politics. As a shepherd leading his flock it sounds more like animal training than spiritual stewardship.
 
Re: The Religion Thread: A Believer-Atheist Alliance

joecct said:
Meanwhile another essay on where does God's authority to govern ulimately rest from our friends at First Things

http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2015/08/a-good-word-for-locke
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This is kind of a problem seeing as there's no god... ;)

But really divine command theory is just another form of social contract theory. God is a social construct -- people have agreed to invest it with meaning, and the meaning in DCT is that it's the rock upon which all reality and morality is built.

That it only works until people stop believing in it is not a knock on DCT. That's also true of money and democracy.
 
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Re: The Religion Thread: A Believer-Atheist Alliance

The thing that keeps me from hedging my disbelieving bets is that if there really is a heaven, I have no reason to want to go there, since the people I tend to enjoy the most will end up elsewhere.
 
Re: The Religion Thread: A Believer-Atheist Alliance

burd said:
The thing that keeps me from hedging my disbelieving bets is that if there really is a heaven, I have no reason to want to go there, since the people I tend to enjoy the most will end up elsewhere.
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Heaven wouldn't be any fun for me. As it's presented in the bible, there's no nature, no pets, no running/marathons, no mom and pop coffee shops, and no beer. Oh sure, it'll be nice to look at, but there's nothing to do.

And as for hell, I'm not sure there's a lake of sulfur and everyone's on fire. If there's a hell, my literary imagination leaves me with this:

-Lukewarm coffee. You have to take it that way too, without cream and sugar, and no way to warm it up.
-Sports? Just the 2008 Detroit Lions on repeat.
-Television? Nothing but Bill O'Reilly and FOX News, with the Rachael Ray talk show in the morning...
-No pets, the only dog being Cerberus, the three-headed guard dog.
-Impassable trails and sinkhole mud spots. Nowhere to run.
-Rachael Ray would be doing ALL the cooking. Everything is drenched in EVOO that's extra virgin olive oil...
-There's beer alright, but it's Bud Light, and it's lukewarm.
-And the only music is Iggy Azalea and Meghan Trainor on repeat. Imagine listening to "All About That Bass" on repeat for eternity.
 
Re: The Religion Thread: A Believer-Atheist Alliance

ShirtlessBob said:
Heaven wouldn't be any fun for me. As it's presented in the bible...

... And as for hell, I'm not sure there's a lake of sulfur and everyone's on fire.
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I need a Biblical expert to help me here, but my impression is in the Bible Hell as the "lake of fire" only gets one mention in John the Revelator's fever dream, and Heaven isn't described at all.
 
Re: The Religion Thread: A Believer-Atheist Alliance

Kepler said:
I need a Biblical expert to help me here, but my impression is in the Bible Hell as the "lake of fire" only gets one mention in John the Revelator's fever dream, and Heaven isn't described at all.
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You're kidding. Where did the clouds and harps come from?
 
Re: The Religion Thread: A Believer-Atheist Alliance

burd said:
You're kidding. Where did the clouds and harps come from?
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The harps likely come from the discussions of the various choirs of angels, some are supposed to be musical in some metaphorical term, I believe. Or it could be that castes of angels are simply called choirs. Meanwhile, the clouds are there because Heaven is always referenced as being (points finger) up where the clouds and sky are located, or people having ascended to take their place with Jesus.
 
Re: The Religion Thread: A Believer-Atheist Alliance

burd said:
You're kidding. Where did the clouds and harps come from?
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Oops. Looks like the ol' opium fiend gave us that, too:

And I heard a voice from heaven,
as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of a great thunder:
and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps

-- Revelation 14:2
 
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Re: The Religion Thread: A Believer-Atheist Alliance

ShirtlessBob said:
It amazed me how many people thought the Left Behind series was exactly how the end times were going to play out.
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Also interesting that Dispensationalism, which is the Fruity Pebbles version of Christian eschatology behind the LB cash cow, is less than 200 years old, and one guy pulled it out of his "behind."
 
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Re: The Religion Thread: A Believer-Atheist Alliance

Kepler said:
Also interesting that Dispensationalism, which is the Fruity Pebbles version of Christian eschatology behind the LB cash cow, is less than 200 years old, and one guy pulled it out of his "behind."
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One of the Bibles I had was HUGE on dispensationalism, interpreting Revelation as such. But in further studies, there was no direct mention of a "rapture."
 
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