The pope. Popeing about.
- Thread starter benneh
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I rode up to the hospital to see if I could catch a glance earlier, but we missed him by about 10 minutes. The helicopter is busy flying backwards and making lots of noise, so I'm guessing they have just left again 
No it's not. It may have been in the past, but if you think it is now, you're dreaming. How can it be "social control"? Are you controlled by it? Is anyone who chooses not to be, controlled by it?
It's a way, for those who choose to, to make their lives as good as it can be, to live as well as they can, and to draw strength and fulfillment from their shared faith. As I said previously, my GF and her family are very involved with their churches, and I've never met a more loving, involved, happy family.
And not once have they banged on about religion, or questioned my "faith". Or my suitability to be with their daughter / sister etc. They're just really nice people.
I kinda get why some people get so stirred up against the church, but this family has made me think that I was the blinkered one, towing a party line - just not a religious one.
Caporegime
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You're right, it doesn't even have that going for it anymore. So what exactly is the point in it?
Can't they draw strength and fulfilment from their shared biological status as human beings? Are you saying religion helps people to be happy, because if someone needed religion to be happy then I would doubt their sanity.
There is no god. Deal.
Soldato
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As he said previously, the religiously inclined often tends towards happy families and social responsibility. Every week, we come together and ask what can we do, on a personal level, to impact our societies and make the world a better place.
What do you do every week?
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Haha. I'm not saying there is a God.
Do you draw strength and fulfilment from your biological minglings with the other drones shuffling along the M4 corridor to go and work in sector 7G or whatever? I know I don't! My day is usually filled with envy, schadenfreude and other tasty morsels of one-upmanship
What I'm saying is - like BKB said - it's a way for people to pull together. Don't be afraid of it.
Do you draw strength and fulfilment from your biological minglings with the other drones shuffling along the M4 corridor to go and work in sector 7G or whatever? I know I don't! My day is usually filled with envy, schadenfreude and other tasty morsels of one-upmanship
What I'm saying is - like BKB said - it's a way for people to pull together. Don't be afraid of it.
lol
Caporegime
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Live my life before I die and turn to dust.
Soldato
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What does living your life entail, and how am i not doing it exactly?
Which is nice, but what do you actually do about it? Talk is cheap after all.
At the end of the day many people find solace in religion and do a lot of good in the name of religion. But also a lot of people find a lot of hate in religion and do a lot of bad things in the name of religion. You cannot say religion is responsible for one and not the other.
Not having a faith doesn't make someone a lesser person, much like having a faith doesn't suddenly make someone a better person. People are people and there is a lot to admire and a lot to dislike regardless of religious views.
Soldato
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I'm not saying it does, but as far as i am aware the atheists have yet to mobilise into weekly meetings celebrating the not existence of God. You do something regularly, it becomes a part of you.
Aye, and a sad truth that real change comes from massive socio-economic factors that are beyond our individual control. But still I can align myself and my of way of living to do my part, choosing justice and righteousness over and above the quick-fix selfishness of modern day culture.
mmmmmmm that sounds way to religious, i apologise.
Undoubtedly yes, because religion is a safety net that holds fast, and indeed even stronger when all the vanities of this world are stripped away. When your new car isnt quite as good as you thought it was, when your finances evaporate, when your wife leaves you, when you realise those you thought cared about you don't really care at all. God is always there, and nobody can ever take that away from you.
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Can you pay via Papal?
EDIT: Ack, just read the whole thread and was beaten to it. Genuinely gutted. Ah well, here's another one.
If somebody eggs the Pope, would that be eggs Benedict?
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But that is the same from the sense of community you get with anything, well communal. There is little point athiests geting together because it isn't their athiesm that defines them as a community.
Actually it doesn't sound religious at all. The problem is you seem to be ascribing justice and rightiousness to religion when this just isn't the case. It is why Christianity can be so irritating sometimes, the self inflated sense of self that seems to come along with it for many. Like the Pope saying atheism leads to a lack of vision and Dr Rowan Williams not able to understand where morality comes from if not religion. I do not need God to be a good person, I do not need fear of consequences to make me be nice.
At the end of the day, I just believe in one less god than you...
Caporegime
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I didn't say you weren't doing it, I said you don't need religion to do it.
Religion is stupid.
There is no god for the same reason there is no Easter Bunny.
Did you know I am in fact god by the way? Please send me your monies via PayPal kthx. Have faith, my child. For you are a lamb of my flock.
For an extra tenner I'll pull a rabbit out of a hat.
Can you think of a really good reason you believe in this god and not Roman gods, or Buddha, etc.? Answer - upbringing.
So being bought up in an atheist family and converting means what exactly according to your logic?
Deleted member 651465
Deleted member 651465
Best use of the troll guy pic ever!
Genuine lulz.
Genuine lulz.
Associate
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If social control is a process that regulate individual and group behavior then how can avidly following a religion not be a form of social control?
One more question - How many hundreds of millions of devout Catholics have their lives controlled when it comes to birth control?????